🚨 Pierluigi Collina on Croatia's disallowed late goal against Portugal:

🗣️ “I understand the disappointment because these are the moments that define World Cup matches. When a goal is scored in the final minutes of a knockout game and is then disallowed after a lengthy VAR review, the emotions for everyone involved are immense.

VAR exists to help referees reach the correct decision, but it must never become the main story of a match. The ideal outcome is that people leave talking about the players and the football, not the officials or the technology.

Every decision at this level carries enormous consequences, which is why accuracy is so important. At the same time, football is built on emotion, and long delays can take away from those unforgettable moments that make the game special.

For the Croatian players, the feeling of believing they had kept their World Cup dream alive and then seeing that moment overturned is incredibly difficult to accept. That is why every VAR intervention must be applied with absolute consistency, clarity and transparency.

The challenge for football is finding the right balance,protecting the accuracy of decisions while preserving the emotion and flow that make this sport unique. That balance is essential if supporters are to maintain complete confidence in the game.”