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Croatia 3-2 Spain: Jedvaj hits late winner to keep hosts' UNL hopes alive

  /  R47

Croatia remain in the hunt for a Finals place in the Nations League after a remarkable clash in which Tin Jedvaj was the hero against Spain.

2018/2019 UEFA Nations League

3-2

Match Events

6' CLOSE! Perisic's shot off the post

54'GOAL! Croatia 1-0 Spain (Kramaric)

CROATIA HAVE STOLEN THE LEAD! 1-0! It comes against the run of play, and with a slice of luck, but Croatia will not care in the slightest! Roberto's attempted clearance is poor as it smacks off Perisic and bounces kindly into the path of Kramaric, who finds himself through on goal and coolly beats De Gea at his near post!

56'GOAL! Croatia 1-1 Spain (Ceballos)

SPAIN RESPOND IN A FLASH! It's 1-1 just like that! A wonderful, free-flowing team move from the visitors sees Isco played into the penalty area, and he does brilliantly to feed the ball across for Ceballos, who slides in to turn beyond a scrambling Kalinic! It's Ceballos' first international goal!

63' WHAT A MISS! Aspas' shot clips the top of the crossbar

69'GOAL! Croatia 2-1 Spain (Jedvaj)

CROATIA RESTORE THEIR LEAD! 2-1 to the hosts! Jedvaj has his first international goal in his 17th appearance as he heads home at the far post, on the end of an absolutely exquisite delivery from Modric!

72' WHAT A SAVE! De Gea denies Rebic's shot

OUTSTANDING FROM DE GEA! A simple delivery from Brozovic sees him play Rebic clean through on goal from 40 yards out. The Eintracht Frankfurt attacker has only De Gea to beat, but the Spain keeper shows tremendous patience to hold his ground and spread himself big, just getting enough of the eventual strike to turn it beyond the far post!

76' Vrsaljko makes a goal line clearance to keep the Spain out!

78'Penalty Goal! Croatia 2-2 Spain (Ramos)

FROM BEHIND, SPAIN ARE LEVEL AGAIN! It's 2-2! Vrsaljko goes from hero to villain as he concedes a penalty for handball! He can't deal with an awkward bounce following a cross in from the left and winds up handling it accidentally, but the referee points straight to the spot! Up steps Ramos and the skipper makes no mistake, sending Kalinic the wrong way!

80' OFFSIDE! Morata's goal disallowed

93' GOAL! Croatia 3-2 Spain (Jedvaj)

CROATIA HAVE WON IT AT THE DEATH! 3-2!! Brekalo does so well to carve out space for himself in the penalty area, cutting inside onto his right and forcing De Gea into an excellent save at full-stretch, but there's nothing the keeper can do to deny Jedvaj who is on hand to turn the rebound into the empty net for his second goal of the match - this one surely the winner!

Match Report

Tin Jedvaj's extraordinary double saw Croatia blow their Nations League pool wide open with a 3-2 win against Spain on Thursday, setting up a make-or-break clash with England.

The World Cup finalists endured a miserable start to their Group 4 campaign in League A - thrashed by Spain in the reverse fixture and drawing with England - but they now head to Wembley in contention for a Finals place after an incredible finish in Zagreb.

A tame first half was followed by a frantic second as Croatia were twice pegged back by a rampant Spain side, Dani Ceballos levelling after Andrej Kramaric's opener, before a Sergio Ramos penalty cancelled out Jedvaj's first international goal.

But the Croatia full-back ensured his side would not be denied, lashing in a rebound in the dying seconds to keep the hosts in the running.

Spain, meanwhile, face a nervous wait after completing their group campaign, now requiring a draw between the two teams in London to reach next year's knockout stage.

Line-ups

Croatia XI: L. Modrić, I. Rakitić, I. Perišić, D. Vida, D. Lovren, A. Kramarić, Š. Vrsaljko, L. Kalinić, M. Brozović, A. Rebić, T. Jedvaj

Subs: M. Badelj, A. Milić, M. Kovačić, D. Livaković, Mario Pasalic, M. Pjaca, Matej Mitrovic, F. Bradarić, Rog, Vlasic, Brekalo, K. Letica

Spain XI: Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Iago Aspas, David de Gea, Isco, S.Roberto, Rodrigo, I.Martínez, Saúl, Ceballos

Subs: Azpilicueta, Morata, Kepa, Suso, J.Castro , Gayá, D.Llorente, Pau López, Hermoso, Marco Asensio, R.Hernández , P.Fornals

Related: CroatiaSpain