It is fair to say that Hungary manager Marco Rossi was not happy with the performance of referee Danny Makkelie in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Germany last time out — he was asked about it in the build up to today’s game.
“I expect what I have always expected from all match officials – that they are consistent from the first minute to the last,” he said. “Unfortunately the Dutch referee didn’t do that in our match against Germany. That’s it. I am not looking for excuses.
“I have simply said that, even if he had actually blown for that foul which I believe was blatant, either way Germany probably would have won the match because they would probably have scored from another situation. They also scored a goal in the second half so they would have won 1-0 anyway.
“So that’s not the point here. The point is a team’s ability in a tournament like this – especially when we have a tool like VAR – should be all that matters. A team’s prestige and tradition shouldn’t come into things.
“Whether it’s us or Georgia we need to be protected in the same way as Germany, France, England, Italy and so on and so forth.”