A seething Luka Modric accused ref Orel Grinfeld of ‘killing’ them after Croatia went down to a last gasp defeat against Scotland at Hampden.
Steve Clarke‘s men grabbed the three points four minutes from time courtesy of a goal from super sub John McGinn to keep their slim hopes of progression from Nations League A alive. Croatia on the other hand were left raging at full time, having only needed a point to secure their place in the quarter-finals.
Croatian skipper and Real Madrid legend Modric was fuming with Israeli official Grinfeld after he sent Peter Sucic off for a second bookable offence shortly before half time. The 39-year-old did however escape a booking which would have ruled him out of his side’s final Nations League clash against Portugal on Monday. But after the game, the midfield maestro did not mince his words about whistler Grinfeld.
Modric said: “It’s hard to analyse a game when the referee kills it for you. We were absolutely the better team in the first half, we deserved to lead by one or two goals, but then the referee ruined the game. I think we fought like lions, but we didn’t manage to hold on until the end.
“We even had a chance to win it through Mario Pasalic. The ref was arrogant, he would only talk to me but not the rest of the players. Petr Sucic made two fouls and was shown two yellow cards. We received four yellow cards out of six or seven fouls.
“Someone needs to explain to him that not every foul is a yellow card. To destroy a match like this, which was not rough, but very calm, without bad fouls or anything like that…that’s really incredible to me.”
The timeless playmaker is hopeful that his team can bounce back and secure qualification against Portugal on Monday. He added: “We didn’t deserve to lose the match to Scotland, but we did and we have to concentrate on the next game now.
“We are playing at home, in front of our own fans, the stadium will be full and I hope we will play the right game and achieve a positive result.”