Roberto Martinez, head coach of Portugal, praised the numerous interventions of video technology that helped his team advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup, after a hard-fought victory in an exciting and eventful match against Croatia.

The British newspaper The Guardian reported that the match witnessed a first in World Cup history with four goals disallowed in a single game. Croatia was denied three separate goals, while a goal by star Cristiano Ronaldo was also ruled out.

The final incident came in the last seconds when Josko Gvardiol thought he had scored an equalizer in the 103rd minute, only for it to be disallowed for offside after the "snickometer" technology detected the slightest touch between the ball and the head of a teammate as it passed through the penalty area.

Roberto Martinez expressed his great appreciation for the Croatian team after the match, saying: 'I have incredible admiration for Croatia and I respect their sportsmanship. But the balls now contain an electronic chip, and it is clear that this is the reason for the video technology intervention.'

He added: 'All the decisions were correct today, and the penalty for Portugal was clear. It's a pity that one of the teams had to lose, but there was no wrong decision or stroke of luck.'