Euro 2024: Albania forces Croatia to a draw in the 95th

Klaus Gjasula went through all the moods on Wednesday in Hamburg’s bustling Volksparkstadion. The Darmstadt midfielder (34), who entered around twenty minutes from the end of the match, initially believed he had offered victory to his opponents, by involuntarily pushing a ball into the back of his net (76th). But deep down in stoppage time, he offered a little dream to an entire country.

It was first of all Zlatko Dalic’s troops who were hot, very hot, on Wednesday afternoon. In a “big” quarter of an hour, they could have started packing up their luggage and football bags, heading for vacation. But everything that had not gone their way during the first match against Spain (0-3) and during 75 minutes against Albania ended up turning in their favor as if by a miracle.

The Croats had barely begun to quietly settle into the Albanian zone when they were struck down by a counterattack, which they dragged on like a ball and chain for more than an hour. Jasir Asani (11th) sent a sumptuous cross for Qazim Laçi, whose header deceived Dominik Livakovic. The latter, uninspired for the occasion, redeemed himself just before the half-hour mark. He prevented Kristjan Asllani, alone in front of him, from doubling the score. Same on a header from Rey Manaj, in stoppage time in the first period.

Gjasula was forgiven

With arguably less than a quarter of the Croatians’ total talent, Sylvinho’s men displayed courage, intensity and tactical discipline. In football, when you put your mind to it, the greatest exploits are possible and the Reds and Blacks gave a magnificent demonstration of this. They equalized in the 95th minute after giving absolutely everything

The Brazilian coach’s hyper-compact 4-4-2 – sometimes grouped over 10 meters at the entrance to the penalty area! – has long posed problems for Croats lacking ideas and sterile possessions. The clumsy Bruno Petkovic placed a header over (29th), Thomas Strakosha made a good save on a shot from new entrant Luka Sucic (50th) and this same Salzburg striker missed the target in the 69th.

This time, Luka Modric’s squad didn’t even create that many chances. She still ended up coming back to score through Kramaric in the 74th and a ton of pressure was removed from the shoulders of the players in the checkered jersey. And barely two minutes later, Gjasula was the victim of a pool kick and made it 2-1 against his camp. But the unlucky man was then forgiven by his entire country and his diaspora in the 95th. Mad!