Cristiano Ronaldo showed his class with his words to Croatia’s players after full-time (Image: Getty)
Croatia midfielder Petar Sucic revealed the comforting words Cristiano Ronaldo told him immediately after his side’s World Cup exit. Goncalo Ramos headed a stoppage-time winner, and Josko Gvardiol had a controversial equaliser disallowed as Portugal won 2-1 in a thrilling World Cup last-32 contest in Toronto.
Croatian hearts were broken after they were cruelly denied a 103rd-minute equaliser from Gvardiol when VAR intervened to make an offside call in the build-up. Technology in the matchball revealed that Igor Matanovic touched the ball, meaning Mario Pasalic was deemed offside.
The decision left Zlatko Dalic’s side fuming, while angry fans threw bottles onto the pitch. Ronaldo enjoyed his own celebrations and quickly paid tribute to the late Diogo Jota, but also found time to offer comfort to Sucic, who was on the floor in tears.
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“Honestly, I was very shaken,” he said. “But he [Ronaldo] told me that this is football, that there will be difficult moments in football, but that I am great, to keep going and that things will get better in the future.”
The midfielder was disappointed with the manner of defeat and wanted an explanation for why the referee had ruled out their goal. “I feel empty, but proud of the team, how we played, especially the second half,” he said.
“We deserved a lot more, at least extra time in the end, because we really played well and had a lot of chances. The goalkeeper defended well, they disallowed three of our goals, I would like someone to explain some of the referee’s decisions to me.
“There were too many situations that were questionable and went against us. In the end, we have to congratulate Portugal on getting through.”
Petar Sucic following Croatia’s World Cup defeat to Portugal (Image: Getty)
Following the match, FIFA explained how they established that contact was made with the ball to deny Croatia’s goal.
They said: “According to the data provided by Connected Ball Technology housed within the @adidasfootball Trionda, the official match ball of the @FIFAWorldCup, it was proven that contact was made by Croatia’s #20 Igor Matanović in the build-up to the goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to correctly determine offside and disallow the goal.
“MU sensors housed within the Trionda ball are capable of determining any slight contact, displayed to viewers in the broadcast as a ‘heartbeat graphic’, and allowing officials an unprecedented level of data to make fast, accurate decisions.”
But that explanation didn’t convince Sucic, who remains unconvinced that contact was made. “The referee said that Matanovic played with the ball, that the sensor in the ball showed that. I don’t know what to say, it’s hard to explain, someone should have explained to us,” he said.
“In my opinion, Matanović didn’t touch the ball, and it was a regular goal. Maybe I should have looked better, more times. I also think that my goal should have been better analysed to see if it was offside.”
Matanovic, however, admitted after the match: “Honestly, I think I felt a slight contact with my hair.”
Ronaldo’s first World Cup knockout goal had cancelled out Ivan Perisic’s opener in a contest that saw four efforts ruled out for offside before Ramos struck four minutes into stoppage time to set up a last-16 tie against Spain on Monday.
But despite his side’s anger, Croatia boss Dalic refused to give detailed thoughts about his side being denied a last-gasp equaliser.
“I will not comment much about it but I will say the refereeing was very bad,” he said. “No fouls, no set-pieces on our side which should have been but that’s no reason to talk about the defeat. It was very bad refereeing.
“You were able to see to what extent emotions had been killed and, altogether all these decisions take you back and actually take the joy out of football. VAR kills emotions, it kills everything within you. We have gone too far with VAR.”