Marc Cucurella was booed by the Croatian crowd in the closing stages of the Nations League match against Croatia due to his role in Ivan Perisic’s sending-off. Luka Modric showed little sympathy.
Marc Cucurella is used to hearing boos directed at him in stadiums – particularly in Germany. In the closing stages of Tuesday evening’s Nations League match, Spain’s left-back was also met with boos in Split, Croatia. At the heart of the crowd’s anger was an incident in the 79th minute, with the score at 1–1: Cucurella crossed paths with Ivan Perišić – who had already been booked – in a running duel. Although the veteran tried to avoid contact, he made slight contact with Cucurella’s foot with his knee.
The Real Madrid defender subsequently went down and immediately called for his opponent to be sent off. The Belgian referee Erik Lambrechts complied and sent Perisic off with a second yellow card. The VAR, which has been able to intervene in yellow-red card decisions since the start of this season, reviewed the incident but saw no reason to intervene. Down to ten men, Croatia went on to lose the match due to a late goal from Mikel Merino – whilst Cucurella was booed by the crowd for his call for a yellow-red card.
Croatia’s captain, Luka Modric, showed little sympathy for his opponent. “He got himself into this situation,” the veteran grumbled after the match. Modric had already been substituted by the time the incident occurred, but he said he sought out Cucurella after the match: “It’s better if I don’t say what I said to him. ‘ The 41-year-old was also annoyed by the lack of VAR intervention: ’I don’t know what was going on with the VAR. If we’d stayed down to eleven men, we certainly wouldn’t have lost.‘
His manager, Slaven Bilic, spoke of ’tensions” on the pitch surrounding Perisic’s sending-off and also addressed Cucurella’s role. “Who wouldn’t be angry with Cucurella if he wasn’t on your own team?” asked the Croatian coach, though he also praised the left-back as a “great player” whom he admires for his performances on the pitch. “He defends his team with everything he’s got. But of course, he also provokes.”