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14th December 2022
04:01pm GMT
Modric, who probably played his last game in this competition last night, was much more reserved and humble than Pepe, but even he couldn't contain his frustration.
"Argentina was a fair winner of the game, they were better, they deserved to win, but these things have to be mentioned, I generally don't do them, but today they have to be done," said Modric via Argentinean outlet TyC Sports. "I don't like to talk about referees... but this is one of the worst. I don't have a good memory of him, he's a disaster. For me it wasn't a penalty.
"Despite this, I don't want to detract from Argentina. The penalty killed us. We have to recover for third place and win that game."
Chelsea midfielder and Croatia star Mateo Kovacic was equally incensed by the decision that went against his team."We lost by a penalty, but it is what it is. Both situations seem incredible to me, first that he did not give a corner and then that. "I never talk about the referees, they are capital errors and it cost us defeat."Modric and Kovacic's displeasure was backed up by their manager Zlatko Dalic, who also hit out the penalty decision. “We played well for half an hour but we were not specific in our actions. We conceded a goal which was very suspicious," he said.
“First the situation for the corner — according to the reaction of my players, the referee didn’t call it. Then the situation with the penalty."It was a little bit too cheap and too easy, to be honest. Then we tried to go back and we conceded a second goal. We had ball possession but we made no specific opportunities.” “They had control over us and the ball possession was not in our hands. We had a corner that was called by the referee and then a counter-attack where our goalkeeper did what he did and these new rules.” Related links:
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