Smug Spain pay price for complacency as they're outmuscled by Croatia

Pete Hall was in Bordeaux to see Spain suffer from a bout of complacency, but the threat of violence marred an otherwise fantastic Croatia display.

 

Football’s image has taken somewhat of a battering of late, with some unsavoury scenes across France proving violence in the beautiful game remains rife.

A threat of trouble in the famous wine-producing region of Bordeaux hung in the air ahead of Spain’s final Group D clash, after the Croatia Interior Ministry warned that they’d had intelligence that a group of radical fans were planning to attack the referee on 30 minutes, as well as plotting to light flares and invade the pitch en masse.

Nonetheless, credit to the powers that be - who have not covered themselves in glory so far in this tournament - as a great number of police were deployed to prevent any such occurrence, allowing the thrilling events on the pitch to make the headlines.

Bordeaux has been close to bursting over the last few days. As well as Croatia and Spain fans, many Belgium and Republic of Ireland followers have stayed around after their match at the weekend, helping themselves to plenty of Merlot and Foie Gras.

 

TODAY 22-06-2016 to 22-06-2016 1OO% SURE-BET.

‪#‎GET_Filtered_Soccer_Match with 1.70-1.75 ODDs Daily.

Deposit or Fund your account with a total of $10(N3,300),$5(N1,650) AND $3(N990) RESPECTIVELY and ROLL-OVER your winning without withdrawal TO EARN Atleast $410(N135,000),$205(N67,650) AND $123(N40,624) RESPECTIVELY in Every 7 days.

This is a 100% STREAMS Of INCOME You Can Trust. Call +234 7046498734 Now. Terms & Conditions Apply.

‪#‎These_match_starts_by_5pm

EUFA Euro 2016:
 

Hungary - Portugal
X-10min@ 1.17

Iceland - Austria
X-10min@ 1.15

Italy - Republic of Ireland
X-10min@ 1.15

Sweden - BelgiumX-10min@ 1.16

#CRO fans ready for tonight's showdown with Spain in Bordeaux! #BeProud #CROESP #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/n75LmbK8tn

— HNS | CFF (@HNS_CFF) June 21, 2016

The atmosphere was fantastic, but there was an elephant in the room – with the more sensible fans praying that the few weren’t about to spoil it for the many.

"The young fans have too much freedom these days," one fan said pre-match. "We never were able to think like this when I was young."

On the pitch, Croatia were certainly the ones with the freedom, as they dominated midfield and chased down Spain right until the last, coming back from the dead to stun their Iberian opponents. What is it with Croatia and this country? 

Perisic Kalinic - Croatia v Spain - Euro 2016 - Eurosport

Spain were in command at 1-0, Andres Iniesta was being his usual majestic self and all was well in the world.

Suddenly, Nikola Kalinic’s equaliser caused a seismic shift in momentum, with La Roja under real pressure for the first time in the tournament before yet more late drama saw Croatia complete the tremendous turnaround.

“They are one of the teams who are playing the best in the tournament,” Spain coach Vincent del Bosque eulogised post-match.

“They had five changes, they refreshed their team. They have a great deal of quality.”

It was curious the Del Bosque chose to highlight the amount of changes to the Croatia line-up, as Spain looked tired having fielded the same XI for the third game in a row. 

Spain's David de Gea concedes Croatia's second goal scored by Ivan Perisic - Reuters

 

This young, vibrant Croatia put in arguably the display of the tournament after the break, showing no fear against the illustrious opponents, and look capable of emulating their exploits of eighteen years ago at France ’98.

The stunning second-half showing from Ante Cacic’s men was all the more impressive due to the fact that they were without the talismanic Luka Modric, goalscorer-in-chief Mario Mandzukic and the in-form Marcelo Brozovic

Defensively they were solid, but it was in front of the back four where the real hard graft was put in. Milan Badejl didn’t let Iniesta and co settle on the ball for a moment, blocked three shots and was only bettered in the tackles made department by Dario Srna. Then there was Mark Pjaca, fantastic on the left flank, giving the experienced Juanfran a torrid time as the 21-year-old fearlessly took the game to the experienced defender.

But it was Perisic who stole the show.

The 27-year-old has been one of the players of the tournament so far, and with a goal and an assist to show from his performance in the Stade de Bordeaux, he is showing no sign of slowing down - only Davor Suker (10 - nine goals, one assist) has been involved in more goals for Croatia in major tournaments than Perisic (seven - four goals, three assists).

"This was a special evening for us," Perisic proclaimed post-match.

"We did an amazing job, but this is just the beginning. If we lose the next match all of this will mean nothing." 

 Ivan Perisic - Croatia v Spain - Euro 2016 - AFP

The confidence was oozing out of the official man of the match as he couldn’t hide his delight at the result. And why not? After all, they'd just beated the reigning champions.

This was a major blunder by Spain, whose profligacy has thrown them into the path of Italy in the last-16 - and even if they survive that, they face a potential quarter-final with world champions Germany.

Croatia’s last victory over Spain came in 1994 – their first away victory since independence – but 22 years on from that 2-0 win in Valencia, an arguably even more significant success has taken place.

“I was asked by a journalist from Italy about why we had done so much to avoid playing them, does that make me happy? I replied ‘You should be happy you are not playing Croatia.’”

Luckily the violence stayed away, fans behaved themselves and can start to dream of unlikely Gallic glory, and who knows how far this momentum could take the men from the former Yugoslavia. 

CREDIT TO:http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/euro-2016/2016/complacent-spain-outmuscled-by-combative-croatia-as-ivan-perisic-proves-quality-once-again_sto5658066/story.shtml