Euro 2024: Mattia Zaccagni Saves Italy From Defeat And Returns Croatia

Mattia Zaccagni scored the equalizer goal (Instagram/@azzurri).

JAKARTA - The Croatia vs Italy meeting in the last match of Group B Euro 2024 at the Red Bull Arena, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, early morning WIB, became the fiercest party.

Both of them hunted for victory after a ticket went straight to the knockout stages of Euro 2024.

No wonder, the match went well and both teams played carefully so they wouldn't miss it. Seen, the possession of the ball was narrowly divided, Italy 54 percent compared to Croatia's 46.

Opportunities are also like three money. The Azzurri were able to release three shots into the net from a much more attempted deal, which was 13 times. Meanwhile Croatia is more effective with four shots on target than six attempts.

The match is more often struggling in midfield battles. Therefore, opportunities were created only in the 21st minute.

Italy has almost opened the scoring through Riccardo Calafiori, but his header is still soaring slightly.

The next golden opportunity came seven minutes later. This time, Italy's chances were thwarted by Dominik Livakovic who made a brilliant save.

The Croatian goalkeeper managed to block Alessandro Bastoni's header after using Nicolo Barella's pass.

Only these two opportunities colored the course of the first half. No goals were created until halftime.

In the second half, Croatia and Italy did the refresh. Vatreni added to the bang, while the Azzurri strengthened the second line.

Just seven minutes into the game, Croatia was awarded a penalty after Davide Frattesi fouled Andrej Kramaric.

Unfortunately, Luka Modric, who came down as the executor, failed to carry out his duties. Gianluigi Donnarumma can read his penalty.

Even though they failed, Croatia could still open the scoring first not long ago, exactly in the 55th minute.

Modric paid for his penalty failure. His hard kick after receiving the ball vomited at Donnarumma's goal net.

Left behind by one goal forced Italy to make changes. Federico Chiesa was added to the strong side of the attack.

The Azzurri came close to equalizing through Bastoni in the 62nd minute, but his header after receiving a corner had not yet met the target.

Not wanting to just give up, Luciano Spalletti made another change to score goals. Gianluca Scamacca, Mattia Zaccagni, and Nicolo Fagioli were included when the game remained 10 minutes of normal time.

The refresher had quite a significant impact. In the end, the equalizer goal was created in the second half injury time, precisely the 90+8 minute.

Zaccagni, who had just stepped in from guard to receive Calafiori's through ball. His curling shot at the far post then could not be reached by Livakovic.

The 1-1 score then lasted until it was over. One additional point made Italy manage to secure the runners-up position in Group B with four points to qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

Meanwhile, Croatia ended the group stage journey in third place with two points. They have certainly failed to qualify for the knockout phase due to being knocked out of the top four of the best third rank.