Football Italia and Mundo Deportivo both reported the news tonight, supposedly received from different sources. Others, including Croatian media, have also decided to publish the news before any kind of official FIFA confirmation. The VAR referee, according to the same news sources, is supposed to be another Italian, Massimiliano Irrati.
Although it’s somewhat unexpected that an Italian referee has been given the responsibility for a match between a European and a South-American nation, his performance in his career and specifically at this World Cup makes him a strong choice. The 47-year-old has already refereed an Argentina match this November, when Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 in their Group C match.
The Croatian football fans know him very well from several previous occasions when he was in charge of their matches. The most recent one happened in 2020, in the European Championships, when Croatia played England at Wembley, and lost 1-0. There were many critiques of his handling of that match, including many Croatian fans who claimed that the only England goal was scored after an obvious foul, which he didn’t acknowledge. Before that, we saw him referee Croatia versus Hungary in Split in 2019, and versus Czechia in Pula in 2011 – and Croatia won both of those games.
We wish Daniele Orsato and his colleagues good luck and sharp eyesight in this game, after so many criticisms aimed at the referees at this competition!
