A fan threw a bottle onto the pitch after the Croatian team’s second-half equalizing goal against Portugal at the World Cup in Croatia was canceled out. Josko Gvardiol believed he had managed to salvage extra-time before being booked for offside as Croatia lost 32 to go. The chaotic incident occurred when the Manchester City defender found the back of the net in the 103rd minute. Gvardior scored after Mario Pašić pounced on a deflection from Portugal’s Renato Veiga, but Igor Matanovic was adjudged to have touched the ball first while his teammates were in an offside position.
When VAR intervened, the wild celebration was quickly replaced by stunned disbelief. Espen Aspas admitted that Matanovic had touched the ball and that Gvardiol was therefore offside. Croatian supporters were devastated and furious, throwing bottles and cans at the Toronto stadium. Even though there were only seconds left, play could not resume until the barrage of projectiles had died down.
“It’s offside,” Matt Upson explained on the BBC. “Because of that first header, it doesn’t matter if Veiga takes another touch.”
Mark Chapman revealed that former referee Darren Cann confirmed that Matanovic definitely made contact with the ball. “The last time his teammate played the ball, he was offside. The ball was deflected by a defender and was not played intentionally, so it was offside,” he said. “Snicko, that’s 100% proof he touched it with a flick-on.”
Mr. Upson remained unconvinced. “In my view, unless VAR is looking at angles that we haven’t seen, it’s going to be controversial,” he said. “As far as I can see, it doesn’t look like the direction of the ball has changed. The spin of the ball hasn’t changed and Matanovic doesn’t seem to be touching that ball.”
Portugal’s winning goal came in the 94th minute, when Gonzalo Ramos scored an ingenious header from Rafael Leao’s excellent cross.
Cristiano Ronaldo once ducked in knockout soccer at the World Cup, converting from the penalty spot to equalize after Ivan Perisic’s opening goal.
Portugal will face Spain in a mouth-watering last-16 showdown on Monday night.
