Euro 2020: 8 goals in Croatia vs Spain thriller

Euro 2020: 8 goals in Croatia vs Spain  thriller

Spain and Croatia battled harder than ever before in their last 16 match on Monday the 28th June. It was a game that will remembered perhaps for as long as the European Championship exists, just showing how exciting it was. It was a fantastic watch for the neutral.

The action really got started when a questionable back-pass from Pedri was horribly mis-controlled by the Spanish goalkeeper Simon, with his touch rolling into the back of the net in the most bizarre circumstances. This meant Croatia led against the run of play.

With 7 minutes of normal time in the first half remaining, Gaya put in a good shot which the Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic pushed away yet eventually it fell to Pablo Sarabia who fired it high and convincingly into the back of the net to put the tie on level terms.

The two teams went in at the break with the score at 1-1.

Cesar Azpilicueta’s first goal for Spain came at the right time ? pic.twitter.com/8D51TsGSEn

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 28, 2021

The next goal came for Spain in the 57th minute, when a good cross came into the box from the left hand side and it was Azpilicueta who nodded in from close range. It was his first international goal.

And it seemed the match was all over when a nice long ball found Manchester City’s Torres on the left, who beat a defender and then slotted it in to the far left bottom corner, cool as you like.

But the match was far from finished as a large goalmouth scramble, with a few goal line clearances, eventually was finished off by Orsic to make it 3-2 in the 85th minute. At first it was not known whether the shot had gone past the goal-line yet the referee’s watch confirmed the strike. Croatia had hope!

From that moment Spain were pinned back entirely and the pressure paid off as in the 92nd minute a clever late run from Pasalic, who unmarked, nodded into the far corner off a great cross from Orsic, sending the game to extra time!

In the 100th minute, Morata controlled the ball excellently, from a perfect Olmo cross, and then fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. Morata had been low on confidence in this tournament so this was a nice moment.

And not long after Spain scored again as Olmo found a lot of space on the right-hand side and put in a low, early cross which Oyarzabal picked up, taking a touch and finishing from close range.

Spain almost had six when Olmo hit the post, but it didn’t matter as the game finished with the astonishing scoreline of 5-3 to Spain.

?? Dani Olmo vs Croatia:

⏰ 71: Came on as an substitute.?
⏰ 100: Assist to Alvaro Morata.?
⏰ 103: Assist to Mikel Oyarzabal.?

Game Changer!? #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/XEE2MRBcFo

— PF | Transfer News (@PurelyFootball) June 28, 2021

Man of the match: Dani Olmo

Olmo was a persistent threat for Spain once he came on in the 71st minute. He got two really good assists and also hit the post as he was influential to his Spanish side reaching the last 16.

Line-ups

Spain (4-3-3): Unai Simón; Azpilicueta, Eric García, Laporte, Gayà; Koke, Busquets, Pedri; Ferran Torres, Morata, Sarabia.

Subs: De Gea, D Llorente, Pau Torres, M Llorente, Moreno, Thiago, Sánchez, Rodri, Fabian, Jordi Alba, Olmo, Oyarzabal.

Croatia (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Caleta-Car, Vida, Gvardiol; Brozovic, Modric, Kovacic; Vlasic, Petkovic, Rebic.

Subs: Vrsaljko, Brekalo, Kramaric, Kalinic, Budimir, Pasalic, Skoric, Orsic, Badelj, Sluga, Bradaric, Ivanusec.

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘Euro 2020: 8 goals in Croatia vs Spain thriller.’ How far do you think Spain will go in the tournament? Let us know!

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