Croatia vs Spain highlights Euro 2020: Spain beat Croatia 5-3 in extra-time to advance to the quarterfinals

It was an extra-ordinary, eight-goal thriller that ended with a 5-3 victory for Spain. A bizarre own goal gave Croats the lead, then Spain fought back to lead 3-1. Two late goals from the Croats forced extra-time. However, from there on, it was all La Roja who scored twice in three minutes to secure victory.

PEEEP! PEEP! PEEP! AFTER 120 MINUTES, SPAIN SECURE VICTORY. An extraordinary 5-3 win over Croatia to make the quarterfinals.

120′ Mikel Oyarzabal is in the box, has one defender and the keeper to beat. He cuts it back to Olmo, whose left-footed shot ricochets off the left post and eventually, Spain fail to score.

116′ SAVEE!! Morata is freed down the left and he bursts forward. Caleta-Car chases and forces Morata wide, whose shot is blocked by the Croatian goalkeeper.

114′ Mordic is subbed off, Luka Ivanusec comes on

8 minutes to go. Players have run of out of gas and understandably so.

106′ CHANCEE AND JUST WIDE!! Croatia come close to scoring a fourth. They won’t back down. Budimir’s left-foot shot drifts wide of the far post.

Breathless stuff. First 15 produce 2 goals. How many will the final 15 will. If they are the final 15 at all.

103′ GOOOOALLL!!!! OH MY GOD! YOU ARE KIDDING ME! HAVE SOME MERCY ON US COMMENTATORS! IT IS SO HARD TO KEEP UP! OYARZABAL SCORES

100′ GOOOOOOOALLL!!! ALVARO MORATA TAKES SPAIN AHEAD YET AGAIN! Morata takes down Olmo’s cross at the back post superbly and then blasts it past Livakovic brilliantly!

95′ WHAT A SAVE! Unai Simon with a save off the line. 7 minutes have already flown past. More brilliant, bruising forward play from Orsic, whose cross lands at the feet of Kramaric – but Simon saves with his legs!

92′ ORSICCCC!! The sub, who has scored one and made one, bends a shot just over the bar as Croatia search for a fourth.

And we are away again. First period of extra-time

EXTRA TIME! After 96 minutes, on we go into extra time.

90+2′ GOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!!!! THERE IS THE EQUALISER!!! WHAT A GAME! WHAT A GAME. Coming to the goal, Orsis puts in a beautiful cross into the box from the left flank. Palasic storms into the box and meets the ball with an excellent header.

85′ GOOOOALLL CROATIA PULL ONE BACK IN THE MOST UNUSUAL WAYS POSSIBLE. The move began with Modric and his skill near the right byline after cutting into the box. The ball, through a forest of bodies, rolls to Budimir and his shot is blocked by Azpilicueta on the line. THe ball then rebounds to Orsic, whose shot comes off a Spain body but only after crossing the ball.

78′ Host of subs: Budimir on for Kovacic and Pasalic on for Vlasic.

Jordi Alba is on for Gaya for Spain

77′ GOOOOOALLL! FERRAN TORRES SCORES TO TAKE HIS SIDE 3-1 AHEAD. THERE IS A VAR CHECK WHETHER THE PLAYERS WERE READY BUT IT’S ALL GOOD. Croatia caught sleeping. After Gaya is fouled and is done receiving treatment, Spain take the free-kick quickly on the right and Torres is acres of space. He bursts forward and scores. Gvardiol throws away the water bottle he was drinking from and frantically tries to get back to that side to stop him.

72′ GOOAL BUT CLEAR OFFSIDE! Morata knew straight away. he didn’t even celebrate. It was obvious as after a free-kick delivered into the box, it takes multiple taps and Ferra Torres knocks it towards goal. Morata, who was way offside knock it in

72′ Pau Torres replaces Eric Garcia

Olmo replaces Sarabia

69′ Another good save from Simon. Kramaric is in on through goal down the left and goes for near post but Simon keeps it out. Wouldn’t have mattered as the flag was up

67′ SAVE! Best bit of football Croatia have played so far. Unai makes a very good save, in fact. Croatia pick their way into the Spain box again and Vlasic cuts it back for Gvardiol – but Simon brilliantly drops down to his right to make the one-handed save!

Mislav Orsic replaces Ante Rebic for the first appearance of this Tournament

In all fairness, Spain have been the better side all game so far. Into the 64th minutes, they have been nearly spotless. And that is why, they are ahead

57′ GOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!! AZPILICUETA SCORES!!!! THEY ARE IN THE LEAD. Coming to the goal, he feeds Pedri who then lays it to Ferran Torres down the left. Azpilicueta charges into the box and meets Torres’ perfectly-weighted, floating cross into the box and Azpilicueta scores off his head.

Oh, harsh. The referee stops play just as Spain were moving forward. The ball is faulty and it is replaced. Spain move forward on the left wing. Pedri’s deep cross to the far post is tapped by Sarabia but it blocked inside the box.

52′ OOHHH BOY!!! SARABIA COMES CLOSE! What a chance! Torres, now operating on the left side, beats his man and heaves a cross to the far post, where Sarabia is unable to keep it in play.

49′ Spain have started the second half very positively. Pedri turns away from his defender well and plays the ball to Gaya on the left. His cross into the box is blocked by Vida.

Croatia counter but Vlasic’s dart forward is ended by Laporte.

47′ Harsh and Hard foul! Gvardiol rugby tackles Morata 30 yards away from goal. But nothing comes off the free-kick

For Croatia! Bruno Petkovic makes away for Andrej Kramaric

46′ Second half begins! Croatia set the ball rolling and it’s time to find out which team takes home the win. Currently, it’s 1-1

HALFTIME! A great first half comes to an end. It began with Spain dominating possession and then threatening the Croatian goal. The tide towards Croatia’s favour when Pedri’s harmless backpass skipped pass goalkeeper Unai Simon as he conceded an outrageous own goal. Spain, however, clawed their way back into the game and eventually, before halftime, Sarabia drilled home the equaliser

45+1′ OVER! Morata receives the ball after good link-up, turns around and has a crack at goal but the ball flies over.

38′ GOOOALLL!! SARABIA SCORES, DRILLS HOME FROM CLOSE RANGE! GAME ON! It comes from a Spain but this time, on the right side of the pitch. Pablo Sarabia latches onto a rebound to drill home the equaliser from close range. Coming to the goal, Gaya lets it fly from the edge of the box. Livakovic does well to dive to his left and parry the ball away. The rebound rolls kindly to Sarabia, who does the rest.

31′ GREAT DEFENDING. A lovely ball into the box from the left picks out Morata but the ball is cleared behind for a corner by Caleta-Car. Nothing comes off it.

27′ OVER FROM SARABIA. He meets Torres’ cross with a header that flies long.

26′ OVER! Kovacic, from the edge of the box on the left, goes for glory and the ball just drifts over the goal.

25′ NOW LOOK AT CROATIA. Lost until the own goal and now they look threatening suddenly. Vlasic drives down the right and is forced wide by Garcia. His shot from a tight angle near the byline rams into the side netting,

19′ WHAT A CHANCE! Just taking you a minute behind for a moment because I was bringing you chance that was soon overshadowed by the howler from Spain’s custodian. It was a glorious chance for Morata, who at the far post towers over to meet a lovely ball from Torres. But he completely misses the header and hits it into Vida’s hand. The ball is cleared

20′ GOOOOOAL!!! THIS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! IT’S ONE OF THE MOST BIZARRE OWN GOALS YOU’LL EVER SEE. OH, SIMON!

Pedri knocks a gentle pass back to him from midfield and the Spain goalkeeper takes his eye off it at the last moment and it clips off his foot as he goes to control it and into the back of his net!

16′ WHAT A CHANCE!! WHAT A SAVE! So far, it had been all possession and no danger from Spain but on this occasion, Koke, down the centre is set free by Pedri. The former is then one-on-one with the Croatian custodian, who in the end, gets down on time after charging off his line to keep the ball out with his feet. The ball bounces behind for a corner after rebounding off the Croat defender. Nothing comes off it

13′ SIDE NETTING FROM SARABIA! It all started with Busquets in the centre threading a beautiful through ball to Morata to the left post, Morata slipped the ball behind him Sarabia a with a back flick. Sarabia went for goal but found the side netting. The Croat keeper, however, had it covered.

10′ CLUMSY CHALLENGE by Garcia. Petkovic gets past Garcia only to be brought down again. Nothing comes off it.

5′ FREE-KICK for Spain after Brozovic flaws Morata in midfield. Sarabia’s ball into the box but the ball is cleared temporarily. The ball rolls to the left flank and the cross to the far is met very well by Ferran Torres, who heads it back to centre of the box. Koke is but the ball is just a little behind him. While he leaped, Torres clipped the Croatian defender. We are back to playing.

2′ Sniffs out the early danger. Great ball in from Laporte into the box and Sarabia looks to get to the end of it but the Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic charges off his line to collect the ball.

KICKOFF! In front of a crowd 21,500 strong, Spain get the game underway. This is going to be so much fun.

All done and dusted. Let’s go!

The referees lead the players outs. Time for national anthems.

In what is their sixth European Championship tournament, Croatia have made it through to the knockout stages for a fourth time. However, they have failed to progress beyond the first knockout game on each of the previous three occasions (quarter-final in 1996 and 2008 and last 16 in 2016).

Croatia last faced Spain in any competition during the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League. While the Croatians won the most recent of those two meetings (3-2 in November 2018), they lost the other 6-0 in September 2018, a result that remains their heaviest ever defeat in international football.

Spain have been eliminated from both of their last two major tournament knockout round matches: the last 16 stages of Euro 2016 (v Italy) and the 2018 World Cup (v Russia).

They face their toughest challenge yet against a resurgent Croatia side led by the evergreen Luka Modric. They started the tournament with 0-1 defeat to eventual group toppers England, played out a 1-1 draw against Czech Republic, and then sealed their last 16 berth in style with a thumping 3-1 win over Scotland. Eventually, the Croats finished second and their previous game shows that the players have hit top gear at the right time.

Euro 2020 will light up once again on Monday when two familiar foes in Spain and Croatia square off against each other at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Denmark. The last time they met at the European Championships, Croatia registered an impressive come-from-behind 2-1 win. This time, however, they are expected to face a stern test as Spain comes into this game on the back of a scintillating 5-0 win against Slovakia. La Roja finished second in their group with 5 points, having played out a 1-1 draw against Poland and a goalless finish against Sweden.

“I think it’s a police matter really,” Luis Enrique said Sunday ahead of Spain’s game against Croatia in the round of 16.

“Because when it comes to death threats, particularly in regard to family and kids, that’s a serious offense. … I think it’s a matter for the authorities, so that it can be met with a robust response.”

“I really cannot imagine who would make that kind of comment on social media because it can be really damaging, not just to the player but also to the family and to the kids,” Spain captain Koke Resurreccion said.

“That’s a step too far and it really has to be condemned.”

Being a professional footballer in a football-frenzy country comes with its challenges and it is something Spain striker Alvaro Morata can vouch for form, who recently said that he was subjected to death threats on social media for misses numerous chances during the Euro 2020 group stage. Addressing the same, Spain coach Luis Enrique has asked the police for a “robust response”.

No Ivan Perisic for Croatia after testing positive for Covid-19. Speaking about his unavailability, coach Zlatko Dalic said he will be missed but he has enough replacements

“Perisic is hard to replace and he’s been our key player in the group stage but this can happen and we have to adapt,” the 54-year-old coach told a news conference on Sunday.

“Fortunately, we have more options in Perisic’s position than in any other at this tournament so whoever steps in should be able to do a good job.

“Whether it’s Mislav Orsic, Josip Brekalo, Ante Rebic or Andrej Kramaric, we will try to take the game to Spain and prevent them from keeping possession because sitting back will get us nowhere.

Croatia: Duje Caleta-Car replacing suspended Dejan Lovren

Ante Rebic replacing covid positive Ivan Perisic.

Spain: Jose Gaya replacing Jordi Alba and Ferran Torres coming in for Gerard Moreno.

Playing XI: Livakovic, Juranovic, Caleta-Car, Vida, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Modric, Brozovic, Vlasic, Rebic, Petkovic.

SUBS: Kalinic, Sluga, Vrsalkjo, Brekalo, Kramaric, Budimir, Pasalic, Skoric, Orsic, Badelj, Bradaric, Ivanuse

Playing XI: Unai Simon, Azpilicueta, Garcia, Laporte, Gaya, Koke, Busquets, Pedri, Ferran Torres, Morata, Sarabia.

SUBS: De Gea, Sanchez, Diego Llorente, Pau Torres, Marcos Llorente, Gerard Moreno, Thiago Alcantara, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Jordi Alba, Olmo, Oyarzabal.

Hello and Welcome to the live coverage of this blockbuster Euro 2020 Round of 16 clash between Croatia vs Spain at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. The last time these two sides met at the European Championship, Croatia secured a come-from-behind 2-1 win. Will history repeat itself on Monday? Stay tuned to find out.