Oscar says it was a penalty

Brazil midfielder Oscar sprang to the defence of the referee at the centre of controversy in the hosts’ opening World Cup win against Croatia.

The Selecao triumphed 3-1 at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo but the outcome of the match hinged on the decision by Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura to award a second-half penalty to the hosts.

With the scores level at 1-1 midway through the second half, Fred went to the ground under minimal contact from Croatia defender Dejan Lovren and Neymar converted the resulting spot-kick.

But there were some dubious decisions in Friday’s matches too, with Mexico seeing two goals disallowed in their 1-0 win against Cameroon, and Oscar insisted that refereeing controversies will continue to mark this World Cup.

“Football is like that. There are always controversial incidents. It happens to all teams. There was controversy in Spain’s game, the Mexico game and our game too,” said the 22-year-old Chelsea star.