Croatian fans hurled bottles onto the pitch after their team had a late equaliser disallowed against Portugal at the World Cup. Josko Gvardiol believed he had salvaged extra time before being flagged offside as Croatia crashed out at the last 32. The chaotic incident occurred when the Manchester City defender found the back of the net in the 103rd minute. Gvardiol scored after Mario Pasalic pounced on a deflection from Portugal’s Renato Veiga, but Igor Matanovic was adjudged to have made contact with the ball first while his team-mate was in an offside position.
Wild celebrations were swiftly replaced by stunned disbelief as VAR intervened in the decision. Espen Aspas confirmed that Matanovic had touched the ball and, consequently, that Gvardiol was offside. Croatian supporters were devastated and furious, launching bottles and cans onto the playing surface in Toronto. Play could not resume until the barrage of projectiles had been removed, despite mere seconds left on the clock.
“It’s offside,” explained Matt Upson on BBC. “It doesn’t matter if there’s another touch from Veiga because of that initial header.”
Mark Chapman disclosed that former referee Darren Cann confirmed Matanovic had definitely made contact with the ball. “He was offside when the ball was last played by a teammate and the ball was deflected by the defender and not deliberately played, so the offside stands,” he read. “Snicko, that 100% proves that he touched it with the flick-on.”
Upson remained unconvinced. “Controversial from my view unless VAR have been looking at an angle we have not been seeing,” he said. “From what I can see, I don’t see any change of direction of the ball. What the telling thing is the spin on the ball doesn’t change and it looks like Matanovic hasn’t touched that ball.”
Portugal’s decisive goal had come only in the 94th minute, when Goncalo Ramos produced an inventive header from a stunning Rafael Leao cross.
Cristiano Ronaldo had earlier broken his duck in World Cup knockout football, converting from the penalty spot to level the scores after Ivan Perisic’s opener.
Portugal will now lock horns with Spain in a mouth-watering last-16 showdown on Monday night.