Spain goes to Saint Petersburg in roller coaster. The suspense, mistakes and goals they took over a match that saw the passage to a more savored quarter-final even after what was seen at the Parken in Copenhagen.
The game started with the expected script. Although there was some doubt as to whether the level of Croatia would change dominance plans from Spain. Until now, the rivals gave him the ball and made his offensive passivity clear from the beginning. And Croatia started fulfilling the same plan.
Spain played without much opposition in three quarters of the field. Luis Enrique left on the bench to Gerard Moreno. They were Sarabia and Ferran Torres those who occupied the bands, but neither they nor Morata monopolized the first occasions. It was Koke the one who could finish a Ferran drop in the area, but the ball fell slightly behind. Two minutes later, Atlético’s player fouled Azpilicueta nodded timidly.
The minutes passed and Croatia gave up any type of attack. ‘La Roja’ kept cornering his rival and Sarabia, in 13 ‘, touched the goal. Morata’s taconazo backwards and shot by the PSG player to the side of the net. On 16 ‘, the great first clear chance arrived. Koke was left alone against Livakovic, but his shot was really bad. The goal kicked out and saved the 0-1 without much merit.
Unai and the downhill roller coaster
No one could imagine that four minutes later, the 1-0 was going to shine in the Parken. Pedri gave a ball from the center of the field to Unai Simon which ended up at the bottom of the goal. The goalkeeper seemed to think more about what to do with the ball than about making it his first. It escaped him. Croatia goal and to row against the current.
The goal sat for Spain deeply wrong. Croatia grew and overwhelmed ‘La Roja’ for about 10-15 minutes in which they touched the odd goal. Vlasic He shot to the side of the net against an Éric García who had an afternoon to forget. Y Kovacic, in the 26 ‘, a whip was taken that went over the crossbar.
But with the arrival of the half hour of play, Spain reacted. He took two breaths and went back to his old ways. He took the ball and looked for a team that took off the wolf disguise to keep orderly in the herd like a lamb.
Sarabia again
And the fruit of that improvement came Sarabia’s goal. Again he, the best against Slovakia and one of the surprises in the last two eleven of Luis Enrique. The one of the PSG defined with success after a long attack play. Livakovic pulled out a great hand at Gayà’s shot, the great novelty of eleven, and Sarabia riveted, with friction in a rival included, with the left foot to put the tie. Modric gave a good scolding to Rebic, who was not present in the play because he was more aware of his boots.
If the reaction of Luis Enrique’s men had already appeared, the goal reinforced it. Spain dominated again blatantly and the gangs were two highways through which the Ferran, Sarabia, Azpilicueta and Gayà.
Before the break, Koke sent a right out from the front and Morata resolved from the front a great combination of the Selection with a high right hand. In between, Unai Simón began to make up for himself by leaving the area on time and clearing a deep and dangerous pass.
Azpilicueta and Ferran seemed to sentence …
In the second part, everything seemed to stick to the logical script. And the one desired by the Spanish. It took 13 minutes for Luis Enrique’s team to start on track for a victory that, yes, would have to wait many more minutes to be real.
It was Azpilicueta the one in charge of raising the 1-2 to the scoreboard. Ferran Torres centered from the left to the area, to the heart of it, where the Chelsea put the head to beat Livakovic.
Croatia was forced to stretch and Unai had to appear on some shy shot from Rebic. More decisive was the goalkeeper in a shot of Gvardiol after an almost suicidal loss of Spain behind. He took the shot almost point-blank from the defender with a good response. Began to earn forgiveness.
After a goal disallowed against Morata, Ferran seemed to put the sentence on the scoreboard. The one from City showed that he is married to the goal and defined with his left foot against Livakovic a great pass from Pau Torres, who replaced Éric García. The center-back was a rogue, served quickly from his own field and caught Gvardiol drinking water on the grass. He threw down the bottle and ran after Ferran, but he would not avoid the goal.
… but Croatia had other plans
But the laughter and the joys were disbelief and despair in just a few minutes. Dani Olmo missed a clear chance for trying a petroleum jelly that Livakovic got from him. The poor player did not imagine that, shortly after, 3-3 would shine on the scoreboard.
Orsic was a great shock that ended up forcing the extension with a goal and an assist. In 85 ‘, he finished a commotion in the area to make the 2-3 rise to the light after Çakir’s clock warning. The defense cleared his shot, but already inside the goal.
Croatia turned upside down, something expected. But it was not so much that Spain gave an image of soft, weak and childish back. And as a result of this and the good work of Budimir’s nuisance came the 3-3 in addition. Orsic attended from the left and Pasalic entered completely alone in the area to head to the back of the net. Draw, disbelief, and an extra 30 minutes ahead to fix it.
Pardons for Unai and Morata
Alfred Hitchcock, the father of suspense, would be proud of the end of 90 minutes. But more excited would stay with the extension. Unai and Morata, one criticized today and another throughout the tournament, they signed their pardon in a big way in a first part of the decisive extension.
The goalkeeper saved a sung goal at the start of the extension. Croatia started much better. Orsic shot high from the edge before sneaking down the left and putting a more than gentle ball into the area. But Kramaric ran into Unai’s success point blank.
This spread to Spain, which he found in Morata’s goal a sought, deserved and very expensive relief. It was difficult to reach him, but the wait was worth it. The ‘7’ regained his smile when he lowered a large ball from Olmo with his right and beat the Croatian goal with a shoe with his left. 3-4 and all of Spain celebrating in the wagon of the roller coaster of the Parken.
Just before the break of extra time, Oyarzabal sentenced with 3-5. The one with the Royal Society defined with suspense and success Another pass from Olmo and left the second part of overtime in a possession bath and possible sixth goals that did not reach the end.
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