Mamma mia! Zaccagni late curler does it for Italy
Leipzig, June 25
Italy substitute Mattia Zaccagni scored in the last minute of the stoppage time for Italy to advance to the knockout stage of the European Championship after drawing Croatia 1-1.
Luka Modric’s second-half strike looked like sending Croatia through as the Group B runners-up, but Zaccagni swept a brilliant shot inside the far post in the eighth minute of added time to cap a furious finale from the defending champions.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was unhappy so much time was added after a battling performance from his side.
Modric, at 38 years, 289 days became the oldest player to score in a Euro. He broke the record held by Ivica Vastic, who was 38 years, 257 days, when he scored for Austria against Poland at Euro 2008
“You can’t have eight minutes of added time after that game, it’s nonsense,” Dalic said. “There weren’t so many breaks in play, or so many fouls to justify that. I don’t want to cause a fuss but I think Croatia needs to be acknowledged and respected. We played for almost three hours.”
Italy needed a point to progress, while Croatia realistically needed a win to stay in the tournament. The Croatians have two points from their three games and were at the mercy of other results to see if it’s enough to scrape through as one of the best third-place finishers.
Netherlands shocked
Berlin: A left-footed rocket from Marcel Sabitzer gave Austria a 3-2 win over Netherlands that sent them into the last-16 as Group D winners, with the Dutch also progressing as one of the best third-placed teams. In Dortmund, Kylian Mbappe’s penalty was cancelled out by Robert Lewandowski’s as already-eliminated Poland held France 1-1. — Agencies
