Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić feels that eight minutes of added time in the game against Italy was ‘nonsense’ and partially blames UEFA and FIFA: ‘We are a small country…’
Croatia were eliminated from the EURO 2024 group stage after a 1-1 draw against Italy on Monday.
The Azzurri earned a place in the Round of 16 thanks to a Mattia Zaccagni goal at minute 98 and Croatia were not happy with the added time given by referee Danny Makkelie.
Defender Borna Sosa said in the mixed zone that players didn’t understand why there were eight minutes of injury time while coach Dalic was even tougher at a post-match press conference attended by Football Italia.
The Croatian boss was asked if his players were excessively nervous in the second half and at the end of the game and whether this had an impact on Zaccagni’s dramatic equaliser.
Croatia unhappy with 8 minutes of added time against Italy: ‘Nonsense’
“Yes, absolutely, I don’t know whether it was for the eight minutes of added time at the end but as you know FIFA and UEFA…We are a small country. No one really gives us too much thought, so we have to stand up for ourselves,” he replied.
“You can’t have eight minutes of added time after that game. Eight minutes, it’s nonsense. There weren’t too many breaks in play or too many fouls to justify that. I don’t want to get into it too much. I don’t want to cause a fuss about what’s going on. I think Croatia needs to be respected and acknowledged. I want to thank the lads for their commitment and efforts and the fan base who proved what it means to support their country. We are very proud of them. That’s how things panned out. You can’t concede a goal like that in the 98th minute. That’s the way football is. Life goes on.”
Italy will meet Switzerland in the Round of 16 on Saturday, June 29, at 18:00 CET at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
They should drop the conspiracy theories and learn the rules.
30s added for each substitution, that’s 4 minutes and 30 second
2 minutes added for VAR
that brings us to 6 minutes and 30 seconds
Then 1 minute and 30 seconds for time wasting, and they did plenty of that.
Stop complaining Croatia.
Arrogant and Bad Losers. 8 minutes is equal to both teams and it was a brilliant piece of football that gave Italy an equalising goal
I know it’s hard to take & accept from Croatia, but they have to be more professional than that.
Croatia made 18 fouls, received 6 yellow cards & made 5 substitutions.
Throw the VAR incident in also.
It’s really not hard to understand the 8 minutes.
Forza Azzurri!
Six yellow cards, Parking the bus, umpteenth bad fouls, var check for an incident where the ball actually first deflects off the right shoulder onto the left hand, time wasting and yet they’re complaining? Croatia deserved nothing!
Dont forget after Croatia scored the time wasted for throwing bottles on the pitch
They conceded a 96th minute goal to Albania and a 98th minute goal to Italy. Take a look at yourselves first before looking at the clock.
What a stupid thing for a coach to say….pathetic!
Respected? The way their fans were acting? Arrivederci, hope you had a nice trip back to Zagreb.
Croatia began wasted times since 80 minutes plus players walked out-of the pitch like they are slower than snail when they were substituted .
LOOKS GOOD ON THE SORE LOOSERS CROATS. SORE LOOSERS. FORZA ITALIA