Croatia dominate third placed Norway in a 5-1 smashing. With six different goal scorers, the game proved that it was the team play of Croatia that beat Norway
Both teams started the game giving away possession too easily but, Croatia were the team who had the first attack. Marcelo Brozovic was given the ball just outside the Norway area and he took a right-footed shot. The shot was blocked and went out for a corner. The resulting corner-kick was taken by Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic and the ball was hit near-post towards VfL Wolfsburg striker Ivica Olic. He connected with the ball with a header but it went a few yards wide of the right post.
Norway came into the game soon after winning a free-kick on the right-wing, just outside the opposition’s box. The ball was whipped in and ended up on-target but, the defenders headed it away coolly.
Per Skjelbred was forced off the pitch in the 19th minute due to an injury. The Norwegian seemed to have a muscle problem but nothing was confirmed. The player to come for him was Jone Samuelsen.
Croatia went straight back on the attack as in the 20th minute, Brozovic took another right-footed shot from the edge of the box but, the shot was blocked by the Croatian who was marking him. The game became very choppy with tackle flying everywhere - fouls were given to both sides as both teams tried to attack the ball.
Croatia took the lead on the half-hour mark as Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric played a one-two pass with Ivan Perisic. Modric played the ball along the 18-yard line to Olic, he passed the ball back to Brozovic who calmly took a first-time curling finish from 20 yards. The 'keeper couldn’t do anything to stop it as it was placed right into the bottom right corner.
Norway managed to get three of their players booked within two minutes as Martin Linnes was penalized for a bad tackle to stop a Norwegian counter-attack. Then, Havard Nordtveit was shown a yellow card for another bad tackle just outside their 18-yard box. Tarik Elyounoussi was booked for arguing and will miss their next game. Elyounoussi tried to spark a Norway attack in the 39th minute but, the player was called offside. The through ball came courtesy of Ørjan Haskjold Nyland.
Olic had a chance to double the scoring as he was free in the centre of the box. Rakitic smacked in a cross towards the striker and he got his head to the ball. He headed the ball towards the goal but, he missed the target completely.
The second-half started off with Croatia having a free-kick. Darijo Srna took a direct set-piece from just outside the area but he hit the ball way over the bar. Perisic made the game 2-0 in the 54th minute as he played a one-two with Rakitic on the right side of the Norwegian box and he finessed the ball into the far left corner past the keeper.
The game went a bit scrappy again for a few minutes as Norway were trying to find a way back into the game. Their performance was nowhere near their best and it showed just after the hour mark.
In the 65th minute, Olic made the game 3-0. Mario Mandzukic got onto the end of a corner and headed the ball towards Olic, he managed to pull off a close range shot and the ball went through the keeper's legs and float into the centre of the goal.
Norway finally showed some attacking intent in the 68th minute as a lofted through ball was aimed towards Elyounoussi and centre-back Vedran Corluka ran into the back of the attacker to give them a penalty. Corluka was booked for this challenge.
The penalty was taken by the person who won it, Elyounoussi. He hit the post after trying to place the ball into the right-side of the goal and the deflection was unable to place into the net. Samuelsen took the deflection but, Subasic made a brilliant save to put the ball out for a corner.
Norway carried on attacking the Croatian goal as Alexander Tettey took a right-footed shot from outside the box but he missed the target. Croatia looked like they were being pressured going into the final minutes of the game as Norway managed shot after shot. It didn't help that Corluka got a second yellow card and was sent off.
Nordtveit was the player who took the next shot. He took a right-footed shot from the 20 yard line from a direct free-kick but like the shot previous, it was way off target.
Samuelsen almost made the game a bit closer as Subasic stretched to save his shot which was aimed at the top middle of the goal. Nielsen had another shot just after this from outside the area but was blocked by the struggling Norway defence. Norway found a way back into the game in the 81st minute as some good passing play occurred in the opposition’s box and substitute Mohammed Abdellaoue passed the ball out to Tettey who placed the ball into the bottom left corner to make it 3-1.
Martin Odegaard almost made it a second for the Norwegians in the 85th minute but, his left-footed shot was saved by the diving keeper, Subasic. Croatia stalled any hope from the Norwegian fans as they score a fourth goal in the 86th minute. Gordon Schildenfeld scored a header from the right side of the six-yard box. His header was provided by a cross following a corner by Srna.
In the 91st minute, Norway tried to save themselves slightly with their final attack of the game. Nielsen tried a shot from the centre of the box which was aimed towards the top centre of the goal but, the keeper saved it. Abdellaoue ended up with the ball seconds later but the best he could do was hit a tamed shot which was easily saved.
Danijel Pranjic humiliated the Norway defence in the 93rd minute as he danced his way around two defenders in the box and placed a deflected shot into the back of the net to make the game 5-1.
With this win, Croatia take control of the group being three points ahead of Italy for a few hours until they play Bulgaria later on tonight. Norway will remain third on nine points.