‘It was very bad refereeing’ – Dalic fumes at late drama in loss to Portugal

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Zlatko Dalic was left fuming at the “bad refereeing” on show during Croatia’s dramatic 2-1 defeat to Portugal, adding that VAR has now taken the joy out of football. 

Croatia were eliminated from the World Cup at Toronto Stadium despite taking the lead through Ivan Perisic in the 53rd minute for his seventh career goal at the tournament. 

That moment seemed to spark the contest into life, with Nikola Vlasic’s goal then ruled out for offside before Rafael Leao saw his shot from outside the box rattle the crossbar.

Cristiano Ronaldo was then denied by the offside flag, but the Portugal captain levelled from the penalty spot after Renato Veiga was dragged down in the area by Vlasic. 

Ronaldo made no mistake from 12 yards out, but more drama would ensue. Petar Sucic thought he had won it for Croatia in the 80th minute after finishing past Diogo Costa, but for the third time in the match, the goal was ruled out for offside. 

Goncalo Ramos headed into the net in the 94th minute, but Croatia were denied a late equaliser in stoppage time. Josko Gvardiol prodded home, but Igor Matanovic was adjudged to have got a touch onto the cross into the box, with Mario Pasalic, who crossed for the Manchester City defender, gathering the ball in an offside position. 

Referee Espen Eskas disallowed the goal after a VAR review, and Dalic was left frustrated by the officials and the decisions they made that contributed to Croatia’s elimination. 

“It was very bad refereeing,” Dalic told reporters. “But Croatia lost. I’m not going to find any excuses. We could have won this earlier.

“You were able to see to what extent emotions have literally been killed, and altogether, these decisions take you back and actually take the joy out of football. 

“I’m not saying that sometimes VAR can’t be of help, but it kills the emotions, it kills everything, it kills what you are experiencing, and it’s not easy to deal with all of this.”

Heartbroken, but never broken. The pride remains. #PORCRO

Croatia’s defeat was also Luka Modric’s last shot at World Cup glory, with the veteran midfielder making his 23rd appearance at the tournament, with only four players managing more in the competition’s history. 

It has been reported that Modric could retire from international football after Croatia’s World Cup exit, ending a 20-year stint with his nation. 

The 40-year-old is Croatia’s most-capped player with 201 appearances, and Dalic said this was not the ending that he had envisioned for Modric’s international career. 

“Well, this was probably his last World Cup,” Dalic said ​of the midfielder. “And I’m ​sorry that it ⁠ended this way.”

But while the curtain closed on another World Cup chapter for Croatia, who finished as runners-up in 2018 and third four years ago, Dalic was excited about the future. 

Croatia’s starting line-up had an average age of 30 years and 99 days, the oldest starting XI of a non-group stage match at the World Cup since Croatia themselves in the 1998 third-place match (30y 126d).

“I’m ​not afraid for the future of the Croatian team,” Dalic ​added. “We have ⁠a lot of young players coming in and some of them have shown the quality today.

“We’ve come to an end of a wonderful era,” he added. “And some new beginnings await us.”

Dalic also offered no insight into his future as Croatia’s boss. He has been in charge since 2017 and has won 57 of his 111 games in charge across all competitions (D26 L28). 

“God knows what will happen in the next World Cup, but we’ll talk ​about it in Croatia,” Dalic said. 

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