Croatia vs France
UEFA Nations League
Group A1
Stadion Poljud
France suffered a loss on the opening matchday against Denmark. MAny would have hoped for a strong return by the World Champions. However, the manager chose to leave out Benzema and Mbappe on the bench.
With that being said, France were the first to score through Rabiot early in the second half. Clauss, who came off the bench, took down Kramarić in the 83rd minute. VAR intervened to award a penalty for this challenge. The Hoffenheim man took the strike himself to equalise. Which eventually gave a point to the hosts.
Croatia vs France: Match reaction
Full time score: Croatia 1-1 France
Goals: 52′ Rabiot, 83′ Kramarić
Croatia: Livaković; Juranović, Erlić, Vida, Barišić; Brozović; Modrić (Sučić 79), Kovačić (Vlašić 79); Majer (Pašalić 63), Budimir (Kramarić 69), Brekalo (Oršić 63)
France: Maignan; Pavard, Saliba, Kimpembe, Digne; Guendouzi, Tchouameni (Kamara 62); Diaby (Clauss 79), Nkunku, Rabiot; Ben Yedder (Griezmann 62)
Post match reaction
Andrej Kramarić, Croatia forward: “We clinched a draw against the world champions. It’s too bad we weren’t able to use the energy generated in the stadium in the final ten minutes. This draw is big, but it’s too bad we didn’t manage to beat France.”
Luka Modrić, Croatia captain: “It was a phenomenal feeling. I am happy and proud of my 150th match for Croatia. We were rewarded with the goal at the end and we need to continue like that in the hope of some more points.”
Zlatko Dalić, Croatia coach: “Our boys showed their character and secured the draw. Maybe they could have got even more. The players are giving everything for Croatia and they showed that again.”
Didier Deschamps, France coach: “I am mostly satisfied but not completely. We could have doubled our lead but at the end we conceded and failed to seal the victory. But the result is satisfying.”
