Luka Modric blasts 'disaster' referee in Argentina defeat

Luka Modric has hit out at referee Daniele Orsato for his performance in Croatia’s defeat to Argentina.

Modric and his nation weren’t able 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 edging the contest in the opening 30 minutes, but just after that Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was judged to have fouled Julian Alvarez inside the box.

Whether it was indeed a penalty divided opinion and Modric was of the firm belief that that the Italian referee attracted a little too much controversy with his decisions.

“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,” he said.

“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 the third place play-off and win that game.”

To add to the controversy, Croatia should have had a corner shortly before the penalty but a goal kick to Argentina was awarded instead.

Mateo Kovacic argued both decisions were big mistakes on the referee’s part.

“Both situations seem incredible to me, first that he did not give a corner and then that,” the Chelsea midfielder added. “I never talk about the referees, but they are huge errors and it cost us.”