Croatia 2-1 Spain: A comeback means Croatia top Group D

Croatia 2-1 Spain: A comeback means Croatia top Group D
Photo: VAVEL UK
ayden-hussain
By Ayden Hussain
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Photo: UEFA EURO
Photo: UEFA EURO

That's all we've got time for today, keep following VAVEL UK for more Euro 2016 content. I've been Ayden Hussain and I hope you've enjoyed the match as much as I have! See you soon!

Photo: UEFA EURO
Photo: UEFA EURO

Sergio Ramos' penatly miss proved costly, it was a surprise to see him take it when the likes of Fabregas, Iniesta and David Silva were on the pitch.

Spain played poorly throughout and Croatia deserved to win that. De Gea had a poor game in goal, making a couple of errors. He was also beaten at his near post for Ivan Perisic's goal, that should never happen.

Goals from Nikola Kalinic and Ivan Perisic mean Croatia top Group D and Spain finish second. Spain will play Italy, which means an early blockbuster.

Croatia have beaten Spain, La Roja lose for the first time in the Euro's since the 2004 competition.

FULL-TIME!

90+3': Croatia now make their final change to waste time. Perisic will make way for Kramaric.

90+2': Croatia make a change, Pjaca will make way for Cop.

90': Three minutes will be added on.

As it stands, Croatia will top Group D and Spain will play Italy in the next round.

88': Perisic receives a yellow for his celebration.

87': Counter-attack from Croatia sees Ivan Perisic beat De Gea at his near post. Poor goalkeeping.

87': GOAL!!!

84': Final change for Spain, Thiago will replace Cesc Fabregas.

82': Change for Croatia, Marko Rog makes way for Mateo Kovacic.

79': Met once again by Ramos, but he fails to hit the target.

78': Corner to Spain.

75': Free-kick from Rakitic sails over the bar.

72': Poor penalty from Ramos, a stutted in the run up, saved by Subasic, the goalkeeper was a few yards off his line. Surprised he wasn't pulled up for that.

71': Ramos will take this! But before that, Srna has been booked for dissent.

70': David Silva was chasing a pass from Iniesta and the Man City man was bundled into by Vrsaljko.

70': PENALTY FOR SPAIN!!

67': A free header for Ramos! But the ball flashes wide of the post. So close.

67': CHANCE!!

67': Another corner for Spain, the first was headed away by Corluka.

67': Goalscorer Morata has been subbed for Aritz Aduriz.

66': Corner for Spain. A lot of possession for Spain now.

60': Substitution for Spain, Nolito will make way for Bruno Soriano.

57': Whipped in by Rakitic and it's punched away by De Gea. Then a cross from Srna is met by Jedvaj and saved by De Gea.

56': Very good cross by Rakitic is headed away by Ramos. Corner.

55': Free-kick on the edge of the box for Croatia after Pjaca was fouled. Dangerous position.

54': Temper's running hot with Alvaro Morata and Ivan Perisic. After the Spanish striker's shot went over the bar, he approaced Tin Jedvaj but it was quickly intervened by Perisic, who raised his hand to Morata's face and squeezed his cheeks.

48': Juanfran tried a first time shot from the edge of the box, but the ball goes well over. 

No changes to report, the second half is under way!

Photo: UEFA EURO
Photo: UEFA EURO

Aside from misplacing a few passes, the Spanish dominated early stages, but Croatia grew into the game and scored a thoroughly deserved goal.

Spain have been placed a few too many passes off target, which is very unusual for them. They could have been a few goals up, but solid defending mixed with poor touches stopped them from doing that.

Croatia have been very good on the ball and off it, the have been pressing the defending champions and unlike Spain's previous opponent's, they haven't sat back.

Spain took the lead early on through Alvaro Morata, but a goal on the stroke of half-time from Nikola Kalinic means the sides go into the break level.

HALF-TIME!

45+1': That is the first goal Spain have conceded in the Euro's in over 12 hours.

45': Tremendous cross from Perisic is flicked beyond De Gea by Nikola Kalinic. 1-1!

45': GOAL FOR CROATIA!!!

44': Fabregas slipped through Morata, but he couldn't control the ball, poor first touch. A better one would've meant a one-on-one with Subasic.

42': Whipped in by Nolito and Sergio Ramos cannot connect with the ball, he had a free header! Should've done better.

42': Corner kick to Spain after a good spell of possession.

39': A cross in by Srna is met by Perisic, but the Inter Milan player couldn't get above the ball to keep it down and it sails over the bar.

37': Croatia look very dangerous on the ball, they aren't afraid to throw bodies forward to try and unsettle the Spanish. 

33': Croatia are starting to have more and more of the ball. 

29': Marko Rog earns himself a yellow card after a late challenge on Cesc Fabregas.

29': Once again, Spain try to play their way into the box and a couple of crosses later, Croatia have a free-kick.

28': Well worked spell by Spain sees the ball enter the box and Nolito's shot is blocked. Corner to Spain.

26': Very poor from Silva, straight into the wall.

25': David Silva has been fouled on the edge of the Croatia box by Pjaca. It's in a scoring position.

23': Spanish fans can breathe a sigh of relief, their striker is back on his feet.

23': Alvaro Morata is down after a clash with Vedran Corluka. 

20': Another bad pass from a Spanish player, this time it's from Sergio Busquets. We don't hear that very often.

19': It's taken by Rakitic and once again the corner amounts to nothing.

18': Pressure again from Vatreni means Ramos has to put the ball out for a corner!

16': La Roja tried to pass their way to another goal, but nothing comes of their possession.

15': Iniesta tried to find Juanfran at the back post, but it's put out by Vrsaljko. Corner.

14': A horrible mistake from David de Gea nearly cost the Spanish! Rakitic attempted to chip the goalkeeper, but it hit the crossbar then the post! Spain really got away with that.

13': The corner comes to nothing. Still 1-0.

12': A mistake by Sergio Ramos sees Kalinic try and beat De Gea on the edge of the box, the Spanish keeper puts the ball out for a corner.

9': Nearly 2! Nolito tried to guide the ball beyond Subasic but the ball goes wide.

9': Very well defended by Corluka.

8': And Spain now have a corner.

7": Incredible reverse pass from David Silva puts through Fabregas, he dinks the ball beyond Subasic and Morata finishes off the move. Classic Spain.

7': GOAL!!!!

6': Srna spotted the ball bouncing and tried to smash it past De Gea, but he can only find Row Z.

6': Nice spell of possession for La Rojo sees Juanfran try to cross to Morata, but the ball is collected by AS Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

4': Now Spain have the ball and will want to assert domincance, but Croatia are pressing very well.

2':He's back up and the game resumes.

2': Early possession for Croatia and Rog is down and hurt.

Here we go! This evenings contest will be refereed by Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands.

Followed by the Croatian national anthem.

And now the national anthems are ringing around the ground, first the Spanish anthem!

The players are in the tunnel! Kick-off is moments away!

Less than 30 minutes to go! Stay tuned for minute-by-minute action!

Earlier on today, Germany beat Northern Ireland 1-0 and Poland beat Ukraine by the same scoreline. That means Germany topped Group C with Poland second. Northern Ireland claimed third spot and if they qualify for the next round as one the third placed teams, they will face France. Unfortunately for Ukraine, they have crashed out this summer, losing all three matches.

Vicente del Bosque has felt no need to replace any of his players as they have performed excellently so far this summer. Although, most people felt he should have rotated to avoid any injuries his key players may pick up.

Tin Jedvaj has replaced Vida and Vrsaljko has replaced Strinic in the starting 11. A fair few changes made by Ante Cacic.

Nikola Kalinic has replaced the injured Mario Mandzukic.

Luka Modric will be a huge miss which means Ivan Rakitic will have to step up and be the main creator for Croatia.

Subasic; Srna, Corluka, Jedvaj, Vrsaljko; Badelj, Rakitic; Rog, Pjaca, Perisic; Kalinic.

And now the Croatia team!

First up, Spain. They are unchanged after their one sided win over Turkey; De Gea; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Alba; Busquets, Fabregas, Iniesta; Silva, Morata, Nolito.

Team news is in! 

On paper it looks like it will turn out to be a classic, but only time will tell. I'll be bringing you team news at around 7PM BST, so stay tuned and until then, make sure you check out VAVEL UK for more quality content!

Vatreni have boasted a pretty strong defence too, with Darijo Srna and Vedran Corluka being the most noticable names. They have not disappointed; Corluka has been solid at the heart of the Croat defence and Srna has been a menace, constantly overlapping the right midfielder and causing havoc to the opposition.

Modric arguably scored the best goal so far this summer | Photo: UEFA EURO
Modric arguably scored the best goal so far this summer. | Photo: UEFA EURO

Croatia of course have their own set of world-class players including the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. They also boast a formidable wide attack, with Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic. However, Modric will be unavailable tonight due to an injury he picked up against the Czech Republic, so wonderkid Mateo Kovacic could be set to make his first start at a major tournament.

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been in stellar form once again this season for the Red Devils and he has been rewarded. With del Bosque officially announcing that de Gea is Spain's new number one shot stopper, the future is certainly bright for Spain.

Midfield man Andres Iniesta has unsurprisingly been the star of the show, claiming man of the match in Spain's two matches so far. He has arguably been the best player in the tournament, constantly probing the opposition until he finds a weak spot, and he is certainly a player everyone loves to watch.

Morata has proven to be key for Spain. | Photo: UEFA EURO
Morata has proven to be key for Spain. | Photo: UEFA EURO

Where to start with Spain regarding key players? The team is littered with world class players, but with the omission of Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata was introduced by Vicente del Bosque as Spain's main striker. In the first game against the Czech Republic, he did not do too well and ended being subbed off just after the hour mark. Yet, against Turkey, the Juventus striker bagged himself two goals to get himself off the mark.

In the tournament, Spain have won both of their games. They claimed a hard fought 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic on matchday one and then hammered Turkey 3-0. Croatia also beat Turkey, by a score of 1-0, but when they faced the Czech Republic, the Croatians squandered a two goal lead to only claim a point. So Spain currently have six points and Croatia, four.

Spain qualified for the tournament top of their group, claiming 27 out of a possible 30 points while Croatia finished second in their group, behind Italy, and automatically gained a place at this summer's tournament.

Spain have won the European Championship three times, first in 1964 and then in 2008 and 2012. La Roja are bidding to re-write history and become the only team to win this tournament three times on the bounce. On the other hand, Croatia's best finish was at the European Championships in 2008 when they reached the quarter-finals. Both sides are guaranteed a place in the next round, but the match will still prove to be key, as the winner will top the group.

The game will be played at the home of Girodins de Bordeaux, the Stade de Bordeaux and with a capacity of just over 40,000, the atmosphere should be electric.

Hello everyone and welcome to VAVEL UK's live minute-by minute commenatry of Croatia - Spain. It's the final match in Group D and both teams will be looking to top the group. The match is set to kick off at 8PM BST and I, Ayden Hussain will be walking you through what should be a very exciting encounter.

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About the author
Ayden Hussain
I am a Sports Journalism at UCLan and I have been football mad since a young age, following Manchester United and Valencia.