Luka Modric has insisted Lionel Messi “is the best player in history” and deserves to win the World Cup.
Modric still felt cheated by what he called a “disastrous” refereeing display as he looks set to retire from international football after this tournament. But the Croatia star, 37, was still gracious enough to claim that he wants Messi to win the trophy in Sunday’s final and said Argentina deserved their win.
Modric said: “Hopefully (Messi) wins this World Cup, he is the best player in history and he deserves it. I want to congratulate Argentina, I don’t want to take credit away from them. They deserve to be in the final. But that first penalty wasn’t a penalty and it destroyed us.”
Croatia were furious with referee Daniele Orsato for giving Argentina a spot kick after goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was judged to have brought down Julian Alvarez. It came after Croatia thought they should have had a corner but a goal kick was awarded, and they insisted that Alvarez collided with Livakovic rather than get brought down.
Modric said: “We are sad, we hoped to be in another final and it has not happened. We must congratulate Argentina. I can’t believe that penalty was awarded. There is no foul on the penalty because he shoots and will definitely collide with our goalkeeper because of that. It is clear that it changed the game a lot.
Is Luka Modric one of the best midfielders of all time? Have your say in the comments!
“I don’t usually talk about referees, but today it’s impossible not to do so. [Orsato] is one of the worst I know and I’m not talking only about today, because I met him before and never had a good memory of him. He’s a disaster.”
Croatia were dreaming of reaching a second consecutive World Cup final but only reached Saturday's third place play-off, which could be Modric’s last international game.
When asked whether he would retire after the weekend, Modric added: “I don’t know, we’ll see. This is not the time to talk about this. We have a bronze medal to win now.”
