20 November,2024 07:47 AM IST | Paris | AFP
Croatia’s Josko Gvardiol (centre) celebrates his goal against Portugal with teammates in Split, Croatia, on Monday. Pic/Getty Images
Josko Gvardiol continued his scoring streak to earn Croatia a 1-1 home draw with Portugal on Monday that allowed them to squeak into the Nations League quarter-finals.
Portugal had already sealed top spot in Group A1. The draw allowed Croatia to finish one point above Scotland who continued their late surge with a 2-1 win over Poland in Warsaw.
In Group A4, Spain, already assured of qualification, beat last-placed Switzerland 3-2 in a match of penalty kicks in Tenerife. Yeremi Pino, a Canary Islander, sent Spain ahead on home territory after 32 minutes after Pedri's penalty was saved. Joel Monteiro levelled for Switzerland but a few minutes later Bryan Gil stole the ball back to restore Spain's lead. Andi Zeqiri fired home from the spot after a foul by Fabian Ruiz in the 85th minute but Bryan Zaragoza won and converted a late penalty ensured Spain could finish a spectacular year on a high.
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In Split, Portugal took a 33rd-minute lead when Joao Felix neatly finished a sharp counterattack. Rafael Leao then missed the target when clean through. With Scotland winning in Warsaw after a third-minute goal from John McGinn, set up by teenager Ben Doak, Croatia were heading out.
Gvardiol, ghosting at the far post, had a header on 62 minutes disallowed for offside. He repeated the move three minutes later, sneaking in unmarked and onside to squeeze a close-range shot through Jose Sa.
Gvardiol, a defender, has three goals in his last six Premier League games for Manchester City. "It felt like two different games for us," said Gvardiol.
"In the first half, we seemed a bit tired and needed to make changes. The second half was much better - we had more energy, better control of the ball, and created more chances and we managed to score a goal," he added.
Almost simultaneously in Warsaw, Kamil Piatkowski rocketed a cross shot into the top far corner of the Scottish goal to level for Poland. In the 73rd minute in Split, left-back Nuno Mendes nearly emulated Gvardiol for Portugal but goalie Dominik Livakovic blocked. In Warsaw, Andy Robertson headed home in added time to give Scotland a second win in four days, but Croatia comfortably saw out the draw.
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