Croatia v Italy LIVE: Reaction as last-gasp Zaccagni goal sends Azzurri through to Euro 2024 knockouts
Croatia 1-1 Italy: An equaliser with the final kick of the game sent the Azzurri through and likely knocks Croatia out
A dramatic added-time goal from Italy’s Mattia Zaccagni snatched a 1-1 draw with Croatia which was enough to earn them a place in the last 16 of Euro 2024 and likely sends Croatia home.
After a goalless first half, Croatia’s Luka Modric had a penalty saved in the 54th minute but just 60 seconds later he smashed home a rebound after Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off another fine save from Ante Budimir.
The goal brought defending champions Italy to life, and they pressed for the equaliser which would take them through and, with time running out, Zaccagni curled home a shot from distance to break Croatian hearts.
It meant Italy finish as Group B runners-up and will face Switzerland in the last 16, while Croatia are third on two points and must wait to see if they will progress as one of the best four third-placed finishers, although it is now unlikely.
Relive all the drama below:
Nico Williams lights up Spain and gives Euro 2024 a flash of something unmissable
And here’s the report from Italy’s last match.
As Nico Williams weighed up Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the early moments of the second half on a charged evening in Gelsenkirchen, the Italy defender must have felt as if his night was never going to end. Williams had been everywhere but still had one more trick: Italy had compromised their gameplan in an attempt to finally subdue the thrilling Spain winger, but Williams carried the spirit of this young team and simply went again as he found the avenue to his left. A moment that had been building since kick-off finally arrived as Williams produced the cross that led to Riccardo Calafiori’s own goal. By the end, Spain had battered Italy 1-0.
Even as Luis de la Fuente’s side sealed their place in the last-16 with a game to spare, Spain deserved more. For the best part of an hour, they tore the holders Italy apart, led by Williams and his evisceration of Di Lorenzo. Spain really should have found the goals to seal a statement victory such a performance had merited, one of fearlessness that was summed up by irrepressible displays from their young winger Williams, and the even younger 16-year-old Lamine Yamal. Italy, who hung on long enough to threaten a late equaliser, were far from looking like the champions of three years ago.
Nico Williams lights up Spain and gives Euro 2024 a flash of something unmissable
Spain 1-0 Italy: The 21-year-old Williams was electric as the Spanish dominated the reigning European champions in one of the performances of the tournament so far
Klaus Gjasula goes from zero to hero in dramatic Albania draw with Croatia
The report from Croatia’s last match.
Klaus Gjasula struck five minutes into stoppage time to rescue a 2-2 draw for Albania against Croatia in a thriller in Hamburg and keep alive their hopes of reaching the Euro 2024 knockout stages.
The 2022 World Cup semi-finalists looked to have secured a fine comeback win after Andrej Kramaric scored in the 74th minute to cancel out Qazim Laci’s early goal for Albania, then midfielder Gjasula inadvertently turned the ball past his own goalkeeper two minutes later.
But with time almost up, Albania attacked down the left and the ball was crossed to Gjasula who fired left footed into the corner to stun Croatia and set up a tense finale to Group B. After both sides lost their opening matches of the tournament, only final-game victories over Spain and Italy will likely be enough to see either qualify.
Klaus Gjasula goes from zero to hero in dramatic Albania draw with Croatia
Croatia 2-2 Albania: Gjasula’s own goal completed a Croatia turnaround but his 95th-minute strike at the other end snatched a thrilling draw for underdogs Albania
Luka Modric, the problem with ageing, and the worst day for Croatia’s best generation
It only took Luka Modric 18 years. In 2006, the summer before Lamine Yamal was born, he was an unused substitute against Brazil at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. He didn’t quite get on the pitch then – blame manager Zlatko Kranjcar for that one – but a remarkable longevity took him back to Berlin, into historic company. For the Croatia captain, playing in a ninth major tournament meant he joined only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lothar Matthaus among Europeans. A few months before his 39th birthday, he became the oldest ever player at European Championships; though perhaps only for a few days, until Ronaldo and Pepe go past him.
A day of record-breakers, however, became an advertisement for youth, rather than experience. Lamine Yamal, the youngest footballer ever at this level, some 22 years Modric’s junior, delivered a star turn. Croatia lost 3-0 to Spain. It wasn’t quite as dramatic a case of a glorious career ending at the Olympiastadion as Zinedine Zidane’s, later in the 2006 World Cup, but it was a day to prompt questions. Are Croatia, finally, too old? Will time eventually catch up with the timeless Modric, boyish as his physique remains, baggy as the shorts are?
A central-midfield trio with a combined 375 caps can still pass, but perhaps they can’t press. As Spain had less of the ball than in the past, Croatia did not get close enough to them. “We weren’t aggressive enough,” said manager Zlatko Dalic. “We were too slow and too far from the players.” He felt the problem was most apparent on the flanks, not his veteran midfield, but a product of ageing can be a reluctance to get closer to younger, faster players. A problem of ageing is that every defeat gets attributed to the possibility of decline. This might simply be “a bad day”, as Dalic said. Or it could prove something symbolic, the end of an era.
Luka Modric and the problem with ageing
Modric, 38, was replaced after 65 minutes as Croatia were beaten 3-0 by Spain at Euro 2024
The young stars are out at Euro 2024 as football’s next era arrives
When Julian Nagelsmann sat down with Jamal Musiala on becoming Germany manager, he repeated a piece of advice he gave to the playmaker when they were together at Bayern Munich. That was to just keep playing as if he’s back on a small pitch having fun. Musiala’s age means that was just a few years ago, and it makes the words all the more striking, given he’s now effortlessly illuminating the greatest stage in European football.
Zinedine Zidane didn’t get this before dominating Euro 2000, when he was 28. Despite that gap, Musiala is being seen in similar terms to the French great then, at least as far as an individual European Championships goes. That is as the potential player of the tournament.
Part of that comes from Musiala’s uniquely balletic abilities, but it is also a wider shift. The majority of stand-out performers at Euro 2024 have been players that are still eligible for the under-21s or younger. Musiala’s main rival for burgeoning star, Jude Bellingham, is 20. Musiala’s teammate and scorer of the opening goal, Florian Wirtz, is 21. The scorer of perhaps the best goal, Turkey’s Arda Guler, is 19. Spain’s Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to ever appear at a Euros at a mere 16, and has thrilled alongside the 21-year-old Nico Williams in giving Spain a new intensity. The 18-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery is meanwhile considered more than ready to step in for a Didier Deschamps France, which would have been close to unthinkable during Deschamps’s time as a player with Zidane.
The young stars are out at Euro 2024 as football’s next era arrives
With the likes of Jamal Musiala, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal dominating the early stages of the tournament, the first theme of Euro 2024 is clear
Team news
Luciano Spalletti has made three changes to the Italy side that was dominated by Spain last week.
He has switched to a three (or five) at the back, with Davide Frattesi losing his place in midfield and Matteo Darmian taking his place as a right wing-back.
In attack, Federico Chiesa is replaced by Giacomo Raspadori, while Gianluca Scamacca comes out for Mateo Retegui.
Team news
Plenty of change for both sides.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has made four changes to the side that drew to Albania.
In defence, Josip Juranović is replaced at right-back by Josip Stanišić, while Ivan Perisic loses his place to Marin Pongracic, with Gvardiol shifting to left-back.
The midfield stays the same as expected, but in attack Andrej Kramarić moves to centre-forward while Lovro Majer moves out for Luka Sucic on the right and Bruno Petković is replaced by Mario Pasalic.
Line-ups
Croatia XI: Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Sucic, Kramaric, Pasalic.
Italy XI: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Darmian; Jorginho, Barella; Raspadori, Pellegrini, Dimarco; Retegui.
Line-ups
The announcement of tonuight’s starting elevens is imminent.
Will we see changes to an Italy side that has seen the same starting line-ups for both games? Could we see Scamacca changed up front, or Jorginho hooked in midfield, as happened against Spain in the second half?
Will Croatia persist with Ivan Perisic at full-back? Will Ante Budimir start in place of Petkovic after his positive contribution against Albania?
We’ll know soon.
The brutal truth behind Scotland’s Euro 2024 heartbreak
Briefly taking the focus away from tonight’s game...
The big news for those in the UK last night was Scotland’s exit from Euro 2024 after a last-minute 1-0 loss to Hungary.
At least Steve Clarke could point to progress, of sorts. “We scored two goals this time, we only scored one the last time,” said Clarke, as the Scotland manager reflected on another group stage exit from a major tournament. However, it summed up Scotland’s lack of cutting edge at Euro 2024 that the two goals they did score went in off opposition players, in Antonio Rudiger’s own goal and Fabian Schar deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot past his goalkeeper.
If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army and the atmosphere the travelling fans brought to the tournament, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch. If three games brought one point and an early exit, the same as three years ago at Euro 2020, Scotland can hardly pretend to be hard done by. Their 17 shots at Euro 2024 is the joint-lowest ever recorded in a group stage – only Northern Ireland, in 2016, showed less attacking threat and even they managed what Scotland could not and reached the knockouts.
The brutal truth behind Scotland’s Euro 2024 heartbreak
If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch
Euro 2024 kits: Every home and away shirt ranked and rated
And here’s a bit of fun before we get back to the serious stuff!
Every kit at Euro 2024 ranked, from Croatia’s eyesore of a home effort to France’s beautiful home shirt.
Euro 2024 kits: Every shirt ranked and rated
A needlessly detailed look at the kits on offer at this summer’s European Championship in Germany
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