Curious own goal and seven more goals. Spain beat Croatia in an incredible match

Spain won the match against Croatia and moved on after a 5:3 win in extra time. A thrilling match had everything, an own goal, beautiful goals, a comeback and 30 minutes of extra football. Alvaro Morata was the decider.

Koke had the first chance in the 16th minute, but goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic made a great save. In the 21st minute, the Croats took the lead. Pedri’s little home was mishandled by Unai Simon and the ball flew into the net.

Moments later, Nikola Vlasic shot but missed the target. In the 36th minute, César Azpilicueta crossed Jose Gaia’s shot but to no avail. A minute later, he could have celebrated. Pablo Sarabia tapped in after a shot from the active Gaia.

That was the last chance of the first half and the score was 1-1.

The Spaniards took the lead in the 57th minute. Ferran Torres found Azpilicueta in the box and he headed into the net. The Croatians broke down at that point and did not do well at all. Not even Ante Rebic made amends in the 66th minute when he hit the centre of the net.

Two minutes later, Joška Gvardiol could have equalised, but this time Simon shone with an excellent save. The Spaniards added an insurance goal in the 77th minute. After a precise cross from Pau Torres, Torres tackled Gvardiol and put the Croatian goalkeeper through for the second time.

Mislav Orsic snuffed out a glimmer of hope when he took advantage of a sticky situation in the 85th minute. And in the second minute of stoppage time, the game was level. Mario Pasalic jumped on Orsic’s centre and scored. So it went to extra time.

In the 96th minute, Andrej Kramaric had a chance to turn it around, but Simón reflexively headed it away. And he regretted it. Four minutes later, Alvaro Morata took the ball in the box and hit the area below the crossbar.

And in the 102nd minute, it was done. Mikel Oyarzabal cleared Dani Olmo’s left-footed shot to the left post. After that, it was more of a back-and-forth game, except Olmo still hit the bar. The Spaniards move on after winning 5:3 after extra time.