The first ever use of VAR in a World Cup final did not land in Croatia's favour to leave Zlatko Dalic hurt that Ivan Perisic was penalised for handball in the defeat to France.
In allowing Antoine Griezmann to make it 2-1 from the spot on Sunday evening, the underdogs failed to regain their grip on the tie and fell at the final hurdle.
"In a World Cup final you cannot give that penalty" he told reporters post-match.
"And I say it this respect to France: we did not have any luck. I think we played our best match of the World Cup, but we were punished a lot.
"That is an assessment of the penalty, that's it. I don't want to say anything bad about the referee, I respect the officials very much.
"I want to be positive. I respect VAR a lot, it is good for football."
The defeat ends Croatia's best ever run in the World Cup and Dalic said there was no reason his players couldn't leave Russia with their heads held high.
"We had moments of good luck in the World Cup, but not in the final," continued the coach. "We controlled the match, but the first two goals were a disgrace.
"Then with the third I thought it was difficult, that's the truth.
"We didn't give up and we even scored the second goal because we fought until the end. I think we're going out with honour, but it was difficult to win when conceding four goals.
"We are sad, but I have told the players that there is no reason to be upset. We have to be proud of the work we have done.
"In football it is inevitable that you lose, this is sport and this is football and you have to respect the score. But we have to be proud."
Vasadeoz
118
"Croatia came to this World Cup with only two natural strikers. Mario Mandzukic, the guy who scored the winner goal in the match against England. The other was Nikola Kalinic. He was on the bench for Croatia's first game against Nigeria. With five minutes to end that game, the coach instructed him to dress up and replace another player. Kalinic angrily refused to play, in protest of being left on the bench. He saw himself a top player, and wouldn't come on for just five minutes. The coach turned to another player Pjaca for the substitution. After the match, Kalinic refused to apologize, despite appeals from other coaching staff. The coach then sacked him from the team, and sent him home from Russia. Kalinic flew for holidays, and even posted pictures of himself enjoying elsewhere. After all, he seemed to imagine, Croatia won't go anywhere in the tournament. But without him, the team managed to win their matches. Croatia has achieved their greatest football achievement in history, reaching the World Cup final. The remaining 22 players are national heroes. Their names would forever be inscribed in the hearts of generations. Kalinic should have been part of this glory but is now a butt of ridicule all because of minutes of anger, minutes of pride and bloated ego. He may have regretted now. He may have realized his tomfoolery. But it is too late. These stories about life are quite familiar to us, but do we really learn lessons from them? Are they profoundly applied to all spheres of life? Learn to CUT PRIDE. Learn to control anger and DEFLATE EGO and ultimately, learn to say SORRY. Years of SWEAT and DEDICATION can all be shattered by moments of ANGER and PRIDE. DON'T BE A KALINIC"..!!
fodbikrsy
105
Considering quality and skill, Croatia are the World Champions, just that the trophy was given to France!
ChamaraNuwanThusha
68
respect u sir and ur guys. they did well... you win most of hearts than France Croatia... we love you. .. I am from Sri Lanka...