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Luka Modrić Criticizes VAR After Croatia's Disallowed Late Goal
Croatian midfielder Luka Modrić said a last-minute equaliser against Portugal was wrongly disallowed by VAR over a marginal touch earlier in the move, arguing the technology is changing the game's character.
Original post · 2 min read
🚨 Luka Modrić on Croatia’s controversial last-minute disallowed goal against Portugal:
🗣️ “This is football. Not a courtroom, not a lab where we freeze every frame and argue over centimetres.
Tonight we gave everything against a very good Portugal team. We were still fighting deep into stoppage time. The boys kept believing, kept pushing, and when that ball went in through Josko we thought we had it — equaliser, extra time, everything still possible.
Then VAR comes in and takes it away because of a touch earlier in the move. I respect the officials, I really do. But the rule is clear and obvious error. Was this one? These little things, these marginal calls where players are fighting for every inch… that’s football. That’s what defenders and attackers do every single day.
If we start ruling out goals like that in the last seconds because of a split-second touch or a shoulder or a toe, then what are we left with? The game loses its soul. The emotion, the chaos, the moments that make people fall in love with football — they get taken away by technology that was only supposed to fix the obvious mistakes.
We accept that sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way. We’ve done it our whole careers. But when the decision feels like it rewrites the last chapter of the match instead of just correcting something clear, it hurts. Not just us in the dressing room, but everyone who was watching and living every second with us.
Portugal deserved to go through, they’re a strong side and they showed it. But nights like this make you wonder where the game is heading. We play with our hearts, we fight until the whistle, and then one review decides everything.
That’s not protecting football anymore. That’s changing it into something else.”
🗣️ “This is football. Not a courtroom, not a lab where we freeze every frame and argue over centimetres.
Tonight we gave everything against a very good Portugal team. We were still fighting deep into stoppage time. The boys kept believing, kept pushing, and when that ball went in through Josko we thought we had it — equaliser, extra time, everything still possible.
Then VAR comes in and takes it away because of a touch earlier in the move. I respect the officials, I really do. But the rule is clear and obvious error. Was this one? These little things, these marginal calls where players are fighting for every inch… that’s football. That’s what defenders and attackers do every single day.
If we start ruling out goals like that in the last seconds because of a split-second touch or a shoulder or a toe, then what are we left with? The game loses its soul. The emotion, the chaos, the moments that make people fall in love with football — they get taken away by technology that was only supposed to fix the obvious mistakes.
We accept that sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way. We’ve done it our whole careers. But when the decision feels like it rewrites the last chapter of the match instead of just correcting something clear, it hurts. Not just us in the dressing room, but everyone who was watching and living every second with us.
Portugal deserved to go through, they’re a strong side and they showed it. But nights like this make you wonder where the game is heading. We play with our hearts, we fight until the whistle, and then one review decides everything.
That’s not protecting football anymore. That’s changing it into something else.”
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