The tendentious management of the match and a senseless set-up, at the end of which the Italians equalized. Croatia’s footballers are having a hard time biting the obvious end of their promotion hopes, and their malice falls primarily on the head of Dutch referee Danny Makkelie. But the Croatians were also irritated by the Serbian commentator, who was obviously rooting for their opponents.
His name is very well remembered in Denmark, for example. It was the Dutch referee Danny Makkelie, who in the semi-finals of Euro 2021 arranged the progress of the English thanks to an invented penalty in extra time, which went down in history under the name “Sterling dive”, i.e. Sterling’s jump.
Now Makkelie is being cursed again in Croatia. If he was planning a holiday trip to the sea, the Dutch judge can cross off one destination – after the match with Italy, he became the biggest villain in the country of the red and white checkerboard. “He stole our dreams,” is carried across the country.
But the sour Croats were also irritated by the comment of the Serbian commentator. He described the key moments of the match with obviously different emotions. While he recorded Luka Modric’s leading goal with a raised voice, he shouted enthusiastically into the microphone during Donnarumma’s successful save against the Croatian penalty and the equalizing goal.
You can watch his comment after Croatia’s goal HEREto equalize the Italians HERE.
In his case, however, the Croats need not be too surprised. The Serbians could only wish for an equalizer from the Italians purely for sporting reasons – if their team ends up in third place with two points after today’s matches, they could advance at their expense.
And secondly, nationalistic animosity bubbled up earlier during the championship – when during the match between Albania and Croatia, the fans of both camps had to chant “Kill, kill, kill the Serb.” On that account, the Serbs even threatened an early end to this year’s Euro.
