European champions Italy continued their title defense in an extremely dramatic way. The “Azzurri” were on the brink of the abyss, after losing 0-1 to Croatia until the 97th minute and almost dropping out of the biggest football event this summer.
But only “almost”…
The “Chessmen” were already seeing themselves in the round of 16, when to their misfortune, the symbolic guests’ golden reserve Mattia Zaccagni appeared on the scene. A brilliant goal by the Lazio striker completely changed the fate of Group B, with the Italians luckily taking the coveted second place. The bitter tears, however, remained for Croatia, who, despite Luka Modric’s goal in the 55th minute, remained with only two points and are already packing their bags for Zagreb.
Croatia were definitely the team that needed a mandatory victory and for that reason they rushed into attack from the first whistle. As early as the 180th second, Luka Sucic took a shot from medium range, which was brilliantly deflected by captain Donnarumma.
The Italians responded with a move by Giovanni Di Lorenzo on the wing, which ended with an attempted cross to Raspadori. However, Marin Pongracic was on his mark and with an excellent position blocked the potential goal assist for the No. 19 striker.
Andrej Kramaric entered Italy’s penalty area too easily in the 12th minute and immediately tried to pass to a teammate near the penalty spot. At that moment, Donnarumma and Darmian threw themselves for the ball, but to the delight of the “Squadra”, there was no new unfortunate own goal for them at Euro 2024 and Matteo managed to clear it far away.
Matteo Raspadori was extremely ambitious to defend his place in Italy’s starting lineup and in the 20th minute he had a good opportunity to do so after a cross from the left. However, his header passed dangerously close to Livakovic’s left post.
An incredible save by Dominik Livakovic also prevented the Italians from taking the lead as the 26th minute approached. Croatia’s defense did not clear the ball well after a corner, which allowed Barella to return it to the danger zone. And there lurked central defender Alessandro Bastoni, who shot from five meters with his head, but only to see the Croatian goalkeeper’s wonderful save, who saved his homeland from conceding a certain goal.
Lorenzo Pellegrini decided to go for the surprise and took a ground shot from the edge of the penalty area, which gained additional difficulty because it passed through a crowd of players. In the end, Livakovic was attentive and saved with great class.
The symbolic hosts from Croatia wanted a penalty in their favor after Stanisic’s shot deflected off Frattesi’s hand in the 51st minute. Dutch referee Danny Makkelie initially passed over the situation, but received an “invitation” to go to VAR and review the game situation. This led to a correction from the “tulip”, who pointed to the white dot. The veteran Luka Modric took on the responsibility, but his nerves couldn’t take it and he was outplayed by the brilliantly reacting Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Fate is something unique. Seconds after Modric was emotionally crushed by his missed penalty, the Real Madrid legend quickly had a chance for rehabilitation and this time he didn’t make a mistake! The substitute Ante Budimir was fed with a great cross, which was headed by No. 15. Donnarumma was again impenetrable, but to his horror, the “Azzurri” defense remained apathetic to the unmarked Luka, who had the easiest thing to do – a shot into the net for 1-0.
In the minutes after the goal, typically in an “Italian” way, Croatia closed the game, constantly breaking up the play with a series of fouls. All this had a disastrous effect on the attacking actions of the “Squadra Azzurra”. Luciano Spalletti tried to avoid his unfortunate fate by bringing on Mattia Zaccagni and Gianluca Scamacca.
One of the few chances for the “Azzurri” in the second half came in the 85th minute, when a parallel pass along the goal line was not picked up by Raspadori and Scamacca, who threw themselves into tackles.
But never write off Italy! The European champions proved once again that there is a magic around the “Azzurri” that worked in the last possible second of extra time. Rodrigo Calafiori had embarked on a desperate solo raid that unexpectedly reached almost the penalty area of the Croats. The Bologna defender immediately passed to the substitute Zaccagni on the left, who with a famous shot beat the 2018 World Cup bronze medalist. Thus, Italy snatched second place in the final group standings and continued to the knockout stages. The bitter tears were for the “Chessmen”, who with their two points directly exited the continental competition.
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