BULLS CROATTACKED
Spanish giants felled by Croatia’s craft in League tie
Zagreb, Nov. 16: Spain passed up the chance to seal progress to the Nations League finals as they were beaten 3-2 by Croatia on Thursday, undone by a 93rd-minute winner from Tin Jedvaj.
Jedvaj’s late strike leaves Group 4 wide open ahead of its final fixture between England and Croatia on Sunday. The victors will qualify, while Spain can still go through if the match at Wembley finishes in a draw.
Croatia were deserving winners in Zagreb, where Jedvaj scored twice — his first international goals — to snatch a memorable victory at the end of a pulsating contest.
Andrej Kramaric had put Croatia ahead but twice Spain came back, as Dani Ceballos’ equaliser and Sergio Ramos’ penalty looked to have earned them a point, before Jedvaj prodded in deep into injury-time.
Croatia will now head to London with a spring in their step while Spain are left to ponder back-to-back defeats under their new
coach Luis Enrique, following their surprise loss by the same scoreline at home to England last month.
“I am obviously worried about the things we have to improve. But I think football today has not
been fair to us,” Enrique said.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said: “We were rewarded for a magnificent match.”
Spain are at least safe from relegation, which cannot be said of either
England or Croatia, who could still both finish first or last come Sunday night. England will be relegated if they lose or are held to a score draw. Croatia will go down if they are beaten or draw 00. Eight of Croatia’s 11 World Cup finalists started as Jedvaj, Nikola Kalinic and Kramaric replaced Ivan Strinic, Danijel Subasic and Mario Mandzukic, the latter two having since retired from international football.
Jordi Alba went straight into Spain’s line-up while Athletic Bilbao’s Inigo Martinez played alongside Ramos in central defence, with Nacho out injured.
Croatia dominated the opening exchanges but Spain began dictating possession as the half wore on, even if Isco’s longrange shot shortly before half-time was their only real effort of note.
The game was more balanced and open after the restart and two goals arrived in as many minutes. First, Ramos and Sergi Roberto were pressed into a mistake, the latter’s poor pass allowing Kramaric to sneak in and slot past De Gea with 53 minutes gone.