Sao Paulo: Furious Croatia defender Dejan Lovren branded the penalty awarded against him during Brazil’s 3-1 win in the World Cup opener on Thursday a “scandal”, questioning the referee’s right to be officiating at the showpiece event.
Croatia were holding their own in the second half until Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot after Fred backed into Lovren and fell. “I think this referee didn’t deserve to be here,” Lovren said. “I don’t know for what he deserved to be here. It’s really disappointing for us because I think we were playing a good game against a big team, Brazil.”
“Two billion people I think saw that it was not a penalty. I didn’t touch him. We’re really disappointed but what can you do against 12 players? You can’t do anything,” he added sarcastically. “I’m sad, that’s it, because we played a good match and the referee — it wasn’t a mistake, it was a scandal. It’s a scandal for everyone, it’s a scandal for FIFA. I think this referee shouldn’t be at this World Cup,” Lovren said.
Frustrated Croatia coach Niko Kovac said the referee was out of his depth. “If you continue in this vein then there will be 100 penalties during this World Cup,” he said. “We will have a circus,” he added.
Kovac said he did not blame Fred for his tumble, even though he questioned the ease with which he fell to the turf. “I cannot blame Fred because everybody tries to do that. This is part of the sport whether you like it or not. This is part and parcel of football.
“What I want is for the referees to stick to the laws of the game, applying them equally to both teams. The referee was well-placed, he was not unsighted, he saw everything and he took that decision." But Scolari said the referee was right to point to the spot. “For me it was a penalty. I have seen it 10 times now and I think it was a penalty,” he said.
