© Pool via REUTERS
Another thrilling quarterfinal took place at the European Football Championship. In a fantastic match, the Spanish national team defeated the Croatian team 5:3 after extra time. In the quarterfinals, Spain will face the winner of the Sweden-France pair. The Spaniards started the game by controlling the ball and, in the first 20 minutes, the Croatians barely approached the opponent's goal. In the 20th minute, the Croatians suddenly took the lead. Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon made an inexplicable mistake when Pedri sent the ball back to his goalkeeper, and he simply did not stop the ball, resulting in a goal being scored. Croatia took the lead 1:0. After the goal, everything turned upside down. For a while, the Croatians looked much better than their opponents, but in the 38th minute, Spain scored an equalizing goal after some confusion in the penalty area. Although Gaya's shot was blocked, Pablo Sarabia got the opportunity and defeated D. Livaković. The teams went into halftime with a 1:1 tie. The second half started evenly, and in the 57th minute Spain took the lead with a header by César Azpilicueta after a pass from Ferran Torres. Later, Croatia had a great opportunity to equalize, but Unai Simon was in the right place at the right time and made a great save. It seemed that the game was decided in the 77th minute by Ferran Torres, who got past Domagoj Vida and defeated the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation. However, in the 85th minute, Croatia scored again and narrowed the result. After a scramble in front of the goal, M. Oršić shot towards the goal, and although the Spanish goalkeeper touched the ball, it crossed the goal line. Finally, in the 3rd minute of added time, after a pass from M. Oršić, M. Pašalić scored a header and extended the game to extra time for Croatia. Extra time started with a great opportunity for Croatia, but they failed to capitalize on it, and later, Mikel Oyarzabal and Álvaro Morata responded with two goals in 4 minutes. The latter especially silenced his critics. In the remaining part of extra time, the Croatians seemed quite tired, and the result remained the same - Spain triumphed with a score of 5:3 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
