Croatia vs Italy Highlights: Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th minute equaliser leaves Modric and co on the brink of knockout
A 98th-minute equaliser from Mattia Zaccagni ensured Italy’s passage to the Euro 2024 round of 16.
Croatia and Italy shared the spoils in what was a high-octane 1-1 draw at the Leipzig Stadium on Monday. Zlatko Dalic’s side started positively and dominated possession in the early stages of the match.
However, the Croats struggled to create too many chances in the game as the Italians kept hitting them on the counter-attack. Luka Modric, however, had a great chance to score from a penalty, which was saved by Donnarumma. However, the Real Madrid legend scored from open play.
Italy had some wonderful chances to equalise, but kept missing right until the 98th minute as a wonderful run from Calafiori through the middle of the pitch created space for Zaccagni inside the box, who smashed the ball into the top corner. This loss meant Croatia have one foot outside of Euro 2024.
Croatia vs Italy Highlights
1′ – Kickoff
2’ – Croatia started the game with a good spell of possession. Italy was happy to let them have the ball
5′ – Susic draws a save from Gianluigi Donnarumma
7′ – Raspadori spots Di Lorenzo making a run down the right wing. Di Lorenzo crossed the ball into the box, but the Croatian defence was alert and clears the ball
21′ – Calafiori’s cross from the left reached the middle of the box and Retegui header from the same took a deflection off Gvardiol to miss the target.
24′ – Yellow Card – Luka Susic
27′ – SAVE! Livakovic makes an incredible save from Bastoni’s header
37′ – After 10 minutes of intense defending, Italy began attacking. Raspadori found Dimarco, who laid the ball off to Calafiori. He linked up with Pellegrini who drove into the box and took a shot with his left. Livakovic gathered the ball safely.
44′ – Closing moments of what was a pretty slow first half as Italy keep possession with the intention of hearing the final whistle.
HALF TIME
46′ – Pellegrini replaced by Frattesi for Italy
46′ – Pasalic replaced by Budimir for Croatia
52′ – PENALTY for Croatia! Kramaric got possession inside the Italian box and took a shot. The ball was deflected off Frattesi’s left hand which was away from the body. The referee checks on-screen and awards a penalty!
54′ – Luka Modric misses penalty as Donnarumma made an incredible save!
55′ – GOAL! Just seconds after being denied by Donnarumma, Luka Modric gets on the scoresheet. Croatia hold the ball well after the penalty debacle and a cross comes into the box, collected by Ante Budimir. His shot was saved by Donnarumma, but Modric was there as he smashed the ball in the top of the net from point-blank range. With this goal, Modric became the oldest player to score a goal in the European Championships
57′ – Dimarco is replaced by Federico Chiesa
60′ – Modric awarded a yellow card for a late tackle on Frattesi
64′ – Croatia start sitting deep, inviting pressure and wave after wave of Italian attack
68′ – Italy were in total control of the game as Chiesa’s inclusion changed the dynamic of their attack, something Croatia didn’t seem like dealing with
70′ – Kovacic and Susic replaced by Perisic and Ivanusec
72′ – Raspadori subbed out for Scamacca
76′ – As it stands, Croatia are going through to the knockouts
81′ – Darmian and Jorginho are replaced by Fagioli and Zaccagni
86′ – Big chance for Italy. Retegui played a ball into the right side of the box for Chiesa. The Juventus man then put in a cross into the middle, but the ball flashed across the goal.
89′ – Kramaric is subbed out for Juranovic
91′ – Yellow card – Marcelo Brozovic
93′ – Yellow card – Calafiori
98′ – GOALLLLL! Calafiori marched forward with the ball and laid it off to Zaccagni, who came through the left side of the box and hit the ball first time to curl it past the keeper as the Italians wreck havoc!
99′ – FULL TIME!
Player of the Match: Mattia Zaccagni
Coming up with the best moment of Euro 2024 up till now makes Mattia Zaccagni deserving of the Player of the Match award!
Key Moment
Mattia Zaccagni incredible last gasp goal is obviously the key moment of this game!
Conclusion
Despite Croatia producing 1.45 expected goals, they couldn’t get the victory and finish in third place, facing the threat of potentially being eliminated. Could Croatia be heading home?
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