The captain of the Croatian national team, international star Luka Modrić, expressed his anger regarding the officiating during the match that brought his team face-to-face with Argentina in the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup. He described the Argentine tango dancer legend, Lionel Messi, as the best player in history. The match ended with a large victory for Argentina, who scored three goals against the Croats, with Messi opening the scoring from a controversial penalty.
After the match, Modrić stated that Italian referee Daniele Orsato and the officiating crew changed the course of the game by awarding Argentina a penalty and denying his team a corner kick, according to Spanish newspaper "Sport."
The Real Madrid star added, "We were doing well until the penalty, which for me was not a penalty. I don't usually talk about referees, but today it is impossible not to. He is one of the worst referees I have seen, and I'm not just talking about today as he has officiated previous matches for me."
He continued, "I would like to congratulate Argentina. I don’t want to undermine their superiority in the match; they deserve to be in the final, but that first penalty (the spot-kick) ruined us."
He concluded by discussing Messi: "Congratulations to him, I wish him success in the final. He is having an amazing tournament and showing his greatness and quality. I hope Messi wins the World Cup; he is the best player in history."
