France take home the World Cup trophy after controversial VAR decision.
France initiated the scoring after a French free kick skims Mario Mandzukic’s head and then into the back of the net. Perisic replied shortly after with a sweet left-foot strike finding the bottom right hand corner of Lloris’ goal allowing Croatia to equal up the scoring.
As the game is levelled at 1-1, France whip in a corner that hits Perisic’s arm mid-air. The referee Nestor Pitana, reviewed it on the VAR from multiple angles and deemed it as a penalty which Antoine Griezmann converted to put France ahead.
Even with the addition of the VAR to allow the referee to make better informed decisions, in this game has just heightened the controversy surrounding the referee’s decisions as most did not think there was any infringement of the law.
After the handball, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe followed up with a goal each putting France ahead 4-1. Later in the game Mandzukic capitalised off a Hugo Lloris error, however was too late on in the match and the game ends 4-2 to France.
Most would say France’s victory was deserved after their performance in the World Cup as they overcame teams such as Messi’s Argentina and a strong Belgium side. On the other hand, some might say Croatia were hard done by with the referee’s decisions encouraged by VAR.
Nevertheless, after 20 years France are Crowned World Cup winners again.
