Ref was spot on — Perisic handled ball deliberately

CROATIA, masters of the dark arts, were initially undone by a dive which fooled Nestor Pitana, the Argentinian referee. Antoine Griezmann anticipated a foul by Marcelo Brozovic and flung his legs out behind himself. The way both his legs flew out was a real tell-tale sign for any experienced match official so I was surprised Pitana was taken in. That free-kick led to the first goal. Some questioned whether it should have stood with Paul Pogba in an offside position. He didn’t touch the ball and wasn’t interfering with play so the goal was rightly allowed. Later in the half France took a corner which Blaise Matuidi flicked on and the ball was knocked out of play by Ivan Perisic, who appeared to use his hand. Pitana and his on-field team were unsighted and, as it was a serious offence which was not seen, it was correct to review the incident. VAR did its job in suggesting that the on-field referee look at replays and decide for himself. Disappointingly, there appeared to be technological issues when Pitana went to watch those replays. There was plenty of debate around what constitutes deliberate handball but the movement of the arm to the ball means it was deliberate and a penalty was the correct decision.