On the night of June 15, the Spanish national team made Croatia suffer a bitter defeat in the opening match of Group B of EURO 2024. Changing the tempo and pace of the match extremely quickly, coach Luis de la Fuente’s students left their opponents unable to react!

Spain vs Croatia Result: First Half SetBefore entering the opening match of Group B EURO 2024, many people hoped that Croatia with leader Modric could pay back the consecutive “debts” against Spain in the past 3 years.

At EURO 2020, Croatia lost 3-5 to Spain after 120 minutes of the round of 16. Most recently, the two teams drew 0-0 after 120 minutes of the UEFA Nations League 2023 final and Croatia eventually lost in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.

In fact, the Croatian team proactively entered the match cautiously with a reasonable formation to limit Spain’s diverse attacking ability. After 10 minutes, the “Bulls” suddenly slowed down and the ball control was placed on Modric and his teammates.

But right at the moment when it seemed like the “checkered army” would have a good game, Spain showed how dangerous they were with extremely fast transitions.

In the 29th minute, Marc Cucurella successfully neutralized Croatia’s attack and opened up a “key” pass for “conductor” Rodri to slightly adjust a beat to put Fabian Ruiz in a position to create with a perfect pass for Morata to escape and face goalkeeper Livakovic to open the score.

Immediately after that, Croatia had a chance to respond with a bold breakthrough by Kovacic, but his shot in the penalty area was not dangerous enough to beat goalkeeper Unai Simon.

“Masters against masters”, unable to take advantage of the opportunity, Croatia immediately paid the price with the second goal in the 32nd minute. From a long pass on the home field, the young talent not yet 17 years old Yamal “made a mess” on the right wing before passing to Pedri to assist Fabian Ruiz to dribble skillfully, and finish sharply in the penalty area to increase the gap.

After that, Croatia pushed up their formation to increase pressure to find an equalizer, but they failed to take advantage of the obvious opportunities.

In the 34th minute, Marcelo Brozovic shot well, forcing goalkeeper Unai Simon to push the ball away. But in the rebound, Lovro Majer kicked the ball out to the side of the net, incredibly!

In the 42nd minute, Gvardiol shot the ball across the Spanish goal, but Ante Budimir was not sensitive enough to touch the ball into the empty net.

And what Croatian fans did not expect happened in the first half’s injury time. Yamal played the role of creator with an “annoying” pass from the right wing for Dani Carvajal to maximize his experience, seizing the opportunity to rush in and shoot close to the goal, raising the score to 3-0.

After the break, the game was an open affair with many opportunities created on both sides of the field. While Croatia had no way back and had to “play all out”, Spain was also ready for attacking options to score more goals to “finish” the opponent early.

In the first 5 minutes of the second half, if Yamal and Morata had finished better, perhaps everything would have been officially settled.

On the other side of the front line, in the 55th minute, the Croatian team continued to waste when Josip Stanisic, in an attack, had a chance to kick the ball at the 5m50 line but was indecisive, allowing Cucurella to save Spain right on the goal line.

How did Spain play sharply against Croatia in the first half?How did Spain play sharply against Croatia in the first half?After that, coach Zlatko Dalic continuously made changes to refresh the attack line with the hope of “while there is life, there is hope”: Budimir, Modric, Kovacic, Kramaric left the field to make way for Perisic, Pasalic, Sucic, Petkovic.

And when everything fell into a deadlock, in the 78th minute, goalkeeper Unai Simon made a mistake that forced Rodri to “correct the mistake” by fouling Petrovic in the penalty area, receiving a yellow card.

But even when he had a chance from the 11m mark, Petrovic still could not beat goalkeeper Simon. The ball bounced back, in situation 2, Perisic passed the ball to Petrovic to score.

However, after consulting VAR, the referee did not recognize Petrovic’s goal because he found the Croatian player had entered the penalty area before Petrovic took the penalty kick.

Losing 0-3 overall, Croatia must beat the team considered the weakest in the group, Albania, in the second match of Group B taking place at 8:00 p.m. on June 19 to maintain their chances of advancing.

Spain vs Croatia starting lineupSpain (4-3-3): Goalkeeper Simon, defenders Carvajal – Nacho – Normand – Marc Cucurella; midfielders Pedri, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; forwards Yamal, Nico Williams, Morata.

Croatia (4-3-3): Goalkeeper Livakovic, defenders Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; midfielders Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; forwards Kramaric, Ante Budimir, Lovro Majer.