Mario Mandzukic, Croatia’s assistant manager and former player, was shown a red card in the semi-final match against Argentina at the Lusail Stadium by referee Daniele Orsato for protesting the decision of awarding Argentina a penalty.
In his illustrious career, Mandzukic has played for a long time in the Serie A club Juventus and over there he has come across Orsato several times. The 2018 World Cup finalist with Croatia said some heated words to Ostaro which he did not take lightly.
Croatia has been defensively strong throughout the tournament and in most matches, they managed to win by fine margins. They managed to hold Brazil up for 105 minutes in the semi-final and after Neymar scored in the 105th minute they came back with a goal in the 117th minute.
However, the semi-final did not go as the Croats expected as the Albiceleste took a 2-0 lead in the first half and increased it even further with one more goal in the second half.
Croatia failed to make a comeback as Lionel Messi advanced to his second World Cup final with a chance to win the coveted trophy all over again. He came to the 2014 final but left empty-handed after Mario Goetze of Germany scored the only goal in extra time.
Will he be able to do it this time? Only time will tell. However, the run that the 35-year-old has made with Argentina in the FIFA World Cup this year, will be one to remember.
Their opponents in the final will be decided in the second semi-final match between France and Morocco. Given that France are the 2018 World Cup winners, Messi and co will hope that they would get to face Morocco.
