Portugal defeated Croatia 2-1 and secured its qualification for the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, where it will face Spain in one of the most attractive matchups of the knockout stage. However, the result was surrounded by a refereeing controversy that provoked a strong reaction from Luka Modric, who questioned both the decisions of referee Espen Eskas and the intervention of VAR.
The Portuguese team achieved victory thanks to a controversial penalty. Near the end of the match, Croatia had managed to equalize, but the action was ruled out for an alleged offside after a review in the video assistant referee system.
After the match, Modric expressed his dissatisfaction with the explanation given by the referee and stated that the footage did not show the contact that justified the annulment of the goal.
"We were told that Matanovic had touched the ball, but we saw the replay and there is no evidence of that. If he does not interfere in the play, there cannot be an offside. Some decisions were not what we expected," said the Croatian captain at a press conference.
