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World Cup: Croatia beat Denmark 3-2 on penalties

 

All the action as it happened as Croatia beat Denmark 3-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in their World Cup last 16 tie.

FT: Croatia 1-1 Denmark
Croatia win 3-2 on pens
Subasic saves three penalties
Modric misses late pen (116)
Zanka with early scramble (1)
Mandzukic levels (4)
Croatia will play Russia in QF

OPTA STATS

Denmark have lost two of their three penalty shootouts at major tournaments, also losing against Spain in the Euro 1984 semi-final (won the other at Euro 1992 against Netherlands).

This match was only the second in World Cup history to see both teams score inside four minutes, after Argentina v Nigeria in June 2014.

Mathias Jorgensen scored for Denmark after 57 seconds, the fastest goal scored in a World Cup match since Clint Dempsey scored after 29 seconds for USA against Ghana in 2014.

Mario Mandzukic’s equaliser for Croatia after 3 minutes and 40 seconds was Croatia’s second fastest World Cup goal, behind only Darijo Srna’s goal against Australia in June 2006 (1:56).

GOAL! CROATIA 1-1 DENMARK (Mandzukic 4)

Well if you thought the first was bizarre, this is a stinker as far as Denmark are concerned.

Vrsaljko gets down the right, but his hopeful low poke into the box is cleared by Kjaer.

But wait! It ricochets off the head of Christensen, and falls perfectly into Mandzukic’s path! He turns it home for 1-1!

What a strange goal, and rather unlucky for Denmark.

GOAL! CROATIA 0-1 DENMARK (Zanka 2)

Oh my! Denmark have a dream start in bizarre fashion!

Denmark have an early throw on the right, with Knudsen chucking it into the mixer.

Croatia don’t deal with it, Delaney does well to win the loose ball, and Huddersfield defender Zanka has a poke at goal.

Goalkeeper Subasic SHOULD save this, but it deflects off him, off the post and over the line! What a start!

OPTA STATS

  • Croatia and Denmark will be meeting for the sixth time. Their head to head record is perfectly balanced with two wins each and one draw
  • The only previous encounter between Croatia and Denmark in a major tournament was at Euro 1996. Croatia won 3-0 in the group stages thanks to goals by Davor Suker (2) and Zvonimir Boban (1)
  • Croatia have reached the knockout stages of the World Cup for only the second time after 1998. They finished third that year, their best ever performance at a major tournament
  • Croatia have won all three of their games so far at the 2018 World Cup, which is their longest ever streak of victories in the competition. They’ve also conceded only one goal in those three games, it came from the penalty spot against Iceland

 

CROATIA v DENMARK TEAM NEWS

Modric and Perisic are the only two players to keep their place from the 2-1 win over Iceland, with nine brought back having been rested.

For Denmark, Poulsen comes in for Sisto, and Knudsen replaces Larsen following the dull 0-0 draw with France last week.

DENMARK TEAM NEWS

Team to play Croatia: Schmeichel; Dalsgaard, Zanka, Kjaer, Christensen; Braithwaite, Knudsen, Delaney, Eriksen; Poulsen, Cornelius

CROATIA TEAM NEWS

Team to play Denmark: Subasic; Vrsaljko, Vida, Lovren, Strinic; Brozovic, Rakitic; Rebic, Modric, Perisic; Mandzukic

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