Ivan Perisic and Nikola Kalinic were the toast of Bordeaux as the Croatians edged out the reigning champions with a 2-1 win
Spain’s shock loss to a youthful Croatia side on Tuesday at Bordeaux
means that Italy are set to take on the reigning European Champions in
the round of 16 on Monday.
Vicente del Bosque’s men took advantage of an inexperienced Vatreni
line-up early on when Alvaro Morata scored his third goal of the
tournament with a simple tap-in, but goals late in both halves saw Ante
Cacic’s men progress top of the group.
Perhaps, ironically, it was the potent combination of two of
Croatia’s Serie A stars Ivan Perisic and Nikola Kalinic that defeated
La Roja, who up until then had not conceded a goal in 734 minutes of
European Championship football and had not lost a match in the
tournament since their defeat to Portugal back in 2004.
Prior to the game, Perisic had claimed that his side were going to Bordeaux to claim the three points in order to top the group.
“We didn’t make any calculations, we simply want win and finish first,” the Inter man stated.
Indeed, such a victory for Croatia gives the side a significant
morale boost. Without Modric, the Vatreni were forced to rely on Ivan
Rakitic and Perisic as creative outlets. Without Mario Mandzukic to lead
the line, having been rested as in injury precaution, Cacic was forced
to start second-choice striker Kalinic.
But despite a momentary lapse of defence in the early stages, the
Croats took advantage of Spain’s lax attitude. Perisic found space down
the right flank, turned Juanfran inside out before finding an unmarked
Kalinic – who up until then, had only scored three goals in seven months
of football – and volleyed past a hapless David De Gea to equalise just
before half-time.
And just as the match looked to be heading to another stalemate, the
provider of the first goal turned scorer when he used his pace to
exploit the space behind the Spanish defence before slotting into the
near post to seal a memorable victory.
But by the latter stages of the second half, Croatia were hungry,
Spain less so. Having been buoyed by Sergio Ramos’ penalty miss, Cacic’s
men marched to top spot, leaving Spain to battle for a spot in the
quarter-finals in what will be a replay of the Euro 2012 final.
CREDIT TO:http://www.gazzettaworld.com/euro-2016-news/croatia/serie-a-stars-group-d/
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