Spain Advance To Euro Quarters After 8-Goal Thriller
29 June, 2021
Spain booked their spot in the EURO 2020 quarter-finals with a thrilling 5-3 win over Croatia after extra-time on Monday evening.
EURO 2020 Last 16
Result: Croatia 3-5 Spain
Date: 28 June 2021
Venue: Parken
Ferran Torres and Jose Gaya were recalled to the Spain line-up while Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic had to bring in Ante Rebic and Duje Caleta-Car, with Dejan Lovren (injured) and Ivan Perisic (Covid-19) missing.
La Roja should have broken the deadlock on 15 minutes after being played in by Sergio Busquets but the midfielder fired straight at Dominik Livakovic in a one-on-one situation.
After Alvaro Morata had missed another chance, Spain were made to pay on 18 minutes when goalkeeper Unai Simon failed to control a back pass by Pedri that sailed into the back of the net.
Luis Enrique's men upped the tempo and managed to find an equaliser eight minutes before the break when Pablo Sarabia powered home a shot from close range after Livakovic had saved Gaya's initial strike.
After a quiet start to the second half, it was Spain how got the next goals Cesar Azpilicueta got on the end of Torres' teasing cross to send a powerful header into the back of the net at the far post.
Torres then added his name to the scoresheet after latching onto Pau Torres' long pass before skipping past one defender before placing the ball into the far corner with 13 minutes left on the clock.
Croatia set up nervy final five minutes when Mislav Orsic pulled a goal back on 85 minutes, with the goal-line technology approving the strike before Spain had a chance to clear.
The Croatians got their reward in the second minute of time added on, with substitute Mario Pašalic heading home a cross from close range to send the match into extra-time.
Ten minutes into extra-time, Spain regained their lead as Daniel Olmo's cross found Alvaro Morata who controlled the cross before volleying past a helpless Livakovic.
The lead was doubled a couple minutes later when Olmo turned provider once again, this time picking out Mikel Oyarzabal for the close-range finish that sealed Spain's spot in the last eight.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za