SAN FRANCISCO, November 18, (THEWILL) – A late calamitous error by Dominik Livakovic’s allowed Portugal claim a 3-2 victory over their Croatian hosts as Fernando Santos’ side ended their UEFA Nations League campaign on a high note.
Fortunately, Croatia also ended with the consolation of avoiding relegation from Group A3 due to France’s win over Sweden.
The hosts, down to 10 men early in the second period as Marko Rog for his marching orders in the 51st minute, appeared to be heading for a draw at the Stadion Poljud in Split on Tuesday until the keeper error.
Early into the game, Diogo Jota and Cristiano Ronaldo went close as Portugal turned up the intensity. However, they had defender Ruben Dias to thank for blocking Mario Pasalic’s goal-bound effort to keep them from conceding.
Yet, Croatia still opened the scoring and this time nothing Dias could do to prevent it. Matteo Kovacic lashed home the second time of asking after having his initial shot from Pasalic’s cross was blocked.
The visitors were nearly two goals at a disadvantage eight minutes later. But, Josip Juranovic headed wide from close range. Danilo Pereira would have made Croatia pay for that wastefulness but goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic made an instinctive save to leave the score unchanged.
It was eight minutes into the second half before Portugal equalised. Rog earned a second yellow card for a foul on Ronaldo and the Juventus ace took the resultant free-kick. Livakovic parried it out but Ruben Semedo squared for Dias to prod in.
And on the hour mark, Portugal took the lead. Joao Felix found space to tuck in from Jota’s lay off and register his name on the score sheet. Croatia then defied their numerical disadvantage to hit back with Kovacic again curling a low strike into the bottom-left corner.
A golden opportunity to win it for Portugal went begging when Bernardo Silva squandered his chance to score. But the Croatian keeper did not help his side. He charged out to claim Joao Moutinho’s corner, but dropped the ball after making contact with Dejan Lovren, enabling Dias to snatch victory with his own brace.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
