Croatia's veteran playmaker Luka Modric applauds the fans while making way off the pitch after their Fifa World Cup campaign came to an end against Portugal.
Head coach Zlatko Dalić lamented that VAR is systematically taking "the joy out of football" after seeing his side have a dramatic, stoppage-time equaliser cruelly disallowed in their 2-1 World Cup defeat to Portugal.
Croatia's players and bench thought they had snatched an improbable equaliser when Joško Gvardiol alertly prodded the ball into the net in the 13th minute of added time at Toronto's BMO Field.
However, VAR subsequently chalked off the strike after a specialised microchip embedded within the match ball detected that it had faintly brushed Croatia striker Igor Matanović, whilst Mario Pašalić was in an offside position during the frantic build-up phase.
Asked post-match whether he felt technological intervention in football had gone too far, Dalić broadly agreed with the sentiment.
