World Cup 2018: 5 controversial decisions that involved VAR

France v Croatia - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Final
Many pundits bashed referee Nestor Pitana for his controversial penalty decision

#2 Diego Costa's goal v Portugal

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Portugal v Spain: Group B - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia
Diego Costa scored a brace against Portugal, though one should have been disallowed

Portugal features in this list for the third time with yet another decision going against their favour. Portugal v Spain clash was the one many football enthusiasts marked the minute the draw for this World Cup was made, and it did not disappoint. The six-goal thriller had a couple of brilliant goals, a goalkeeping howler and a VAR blunder.

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Twenty minutes after Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty in the opening stages of the game, Diego Costa equalised for Spain. A Sergio Busquets ball was headed by Pepe who then received an elbow from Costa and went to the ground.

The referee did not stop the game and Costa's sublime finish made it 1-1. Though his foul on Pepe was clear, VAR decided against it and got the Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi some harsh words.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith
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