Spain overcame a first-half howler from goalkeeper Unai Simon and a late two-goal collapse to eliminate Croatia from Euro 2020 with a thrilling 3-5 extra-time victory in the Round of 16 on Monday evening at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Unai Simon‘s gaffe gifted Croatia an early lead, only to see La Roja respond through Pablo Sarabia, Cesar Azpilicueta and Ferran Torres. It looked like the 2008 and 2012 European Championship champions were on their way to victory, but Croatia struck late with a pair of goals to force extra time.
Spain then regained their composure and goals from Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal sealed their place in the quarter-final round.
Head coach Luis Enrique made two changes from the team that hammered Slovakia last Wednesday. Jose Luis Gaya came in for Jordi Alba at left-back, while Ferran Torres got the nod ahead of Gerard Moreno in attack.
Luis Enrique had every reason to feel confident with his side’s start, but that all came to a screeching halt on Unai Simon’s howler. Pedri played a harmless pass back to his goalkeeper, but the slightest lapse of concentration from the Athletic Club man resulted in the ball slipping past him and he could only bend over in disbelief at seeing the ball bounce into net to gift Croatia a 1-0 lead.
The own goal left Spain stunned, but soon enough they managed to re-group and started pegging Croatia back in their own half, thanks to a switch from Luis Enrique in which Sarabia and Torres switched sides. Their efforts were handsomely rewarded when after a mad scramble in the box with the ball pinballing around, Sarabia pounced on the rebound of a Gaya shot and fired into net to bring Spain level 1-1.
The momentum stayed with Spain into the second half and soon enough the scoreline tilted in their favour 1-2 when Azpilicueta smacked in a header from close-range off a cross from Torres.
For all blushes warranted for his error in the first half, Unai Simon stood tall in the second half and came through with a top save to deny Gvardiol an equaliser for Croatia.
Luis Enrique went to his for the first time shortly thereafter, bringing on Dani Olmo and Pau Torres for Sarabia and Eric Garcia.
Croatia were committing numbers forward in search of a second goal, but their comeback hopes took a hit when Spain scored off a set piece from their own half. Pau Torres launched a long diagonal ball up toward Ferran Torres, who timed it perfectly to slip past Gvardiol and stroke a shot past Croatia goalkeeper Livakovic to hand La Roja a 1-3 lead.
The 2018 World Cup finalists were not about to throw in the towel, though, and they made it a nervy final 10 minutes after Orsic was able to get a shot over the line to cut the Spain advantage to just 2-3.
Spain were on their heels, while Croatia were flying and they would soar into the Spanish goal in stoppage time, with Mario Pasalic beating the Spanish defence and heading in Orsic’s cross into goal to improbably bring Croatia level 3-3.
Unai Simon’s redemption tour continued into extra time, as he stopped Kramaric from regaining the lead for Croatia with a stop from just a few yards out.
It hasn’t been the easiest tournament for Morata both on and off the field, but the striker came up with the moment of the match as he gathered in a flighted cross from Olmo and hammered a shot into net to give Spain a 3-4 advantage.
Just like in the second half, Spain managed to get some separation and went up by two goals three minutes after Morata’s strike, as Oyarzabal calmly collected a cross from Olmo and finished past Livakovic to make it 3-5.
Unai Simon came up with one final big save, barely tipping a Budimir shot wide of the post to ensure there would not be a second Croatia comeback, capping a Spanish triumph that won’t soon be forgotten.
