By Finley Crebolder
Luka Modric impressed referee Daniele Orsato for his performance in Croatia’s loss to Argentina.
Modric and his nation failed to make it to their second World Cup final in a row on Tuesday night, losing 3-0 to their South American opponents.
They made a decent start, perhaps topping the race in the first 30 minutes, but soon after Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was adjudged to have fouled Julian Alvarez inside the box.
Whether it was indeed a penalty opinion was divided and Modric he was adamant that the Italian referee had aroused a little too much controversy with his decisions.
“Argentina was a good match winner, they were better, they deserved to win, but these things have to be mentioned, I don’t generally do them, but today they have to be done,” he said.
“I don’t like talking about referees but this is one of the worst. I don’t have good memories of him, he’s a disaster. For me it wasn’t a penalty.
“Despite this, I don’t want to belittle Argentina. The penalty killed us. We have to come back for the third place play-off and win that game.”
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To add to the controversy, Croatia were expected to take a corner just before the penalty, but a goal kick was awarded to Argentina instead.
Mateo Kovacic argued that both decisions were a big mistake on the referee’s part.
“Both situations seem incredible to me, first I didn’t give a corner kick and then that,” the Chelsea added the midfielder. “I never talk about the referees, but they are huge mistakes and it cost us.”
This article was originally posted on 90min.com as Luka Modric blows up ‘disastrous’ referee in Argentina defeat.
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