Serbia rescued a point right at the death to give themselves a chance of progressing to the Euro 2024 knockout stages. Check out the best facts and analyse the Opta data with our Slovenia vs Serbia stats page.
Luka Jovic’s 96th-minute header rescued a point for Serbia with the last kick of the game when it had looked like they’d run out of ideas. It might have only been a draw, but the importance of his goal means that it’ll feel like a win to the delirious Serbian fans in the stands.
Right-back Zan Karnicnik scored only his second international goal to move Slovenia to the brink of a spot in the knockout stages, but Jovic’s header left Slovenia heartbroken players distraught on the floor.
The two teams came into this game knowing that a win would set them up with a good chance of securing a place in the last 16, but you wouldn’t have known it from the lack of urgency shown. Both teams looked cagey in possession and struggled to generate clear-cut chances.
Slovenia came the closest in the opening 45 minutes, with Timi Max Elsnik crashing the ball against the post after creating himself some space to shoot. The rebound fell to Slovenia’s young star Benjamin Sesko, but the RB Leipzig forward could only scoop the ball over the bar when he should have really done better.
Goalless at half-time, it was just the second game of Euro 2024 so far not to see a first-half goal (after Portugal vs Czech Republic).
As we moved past the midway point of the second half, it seemed like we would surpass the longest wait for a goal in a Euro 2024 match. Karnicnik had other ideas, though. He converted Elsnik’s teasing low cross from close range to put Slovenia into the lead. The goal arrived 44 seconds earlier in the game than Portugal’s opener against Czech Republic on Tuesday night (68:51) via Robin Hranác’s own goal.
For all the talk about Sesko’s goal threat for Slovenia at this tournament, both of their goals so far in Germany have come from defenders, with Karnicnik’s strike coming after left-back Erik Janza’s goal against Denmark on MD 1.
Serbian hopes for success at these finals were pinned on star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic. Here, he had six shots – the most of any player without a goal in a Euro 2024 match – and he failed to find the net. Three of those were deemed as a clear-cut chance by Opta, meaning he became the second player to miss as many as three in a single game at this tournament after Romelu Lukaku in Belgium’s defeat to Slovenia.
With Mitrovic misfiring, it was left to substitute Jovic to rescue his national team at the death. It was his first goal for Serbia since November 2023 and his first competitive goal in over two years. His strike also meant that there have already been more goals in second-half added time at Euro 2024 (6) than there were in the whole of the last edition of the finals (5).
Before Jovic’s last-gasp goal, Serbia were projected to reach the last 16 in 28.3% of the Opta supercomputer’s simulations. At full-time, that projection has moved up to 40.3%. Slovenia, who have never made the knockout stages of a major international tournament in three previous attempts, saw their projected chance of making the knockouts at Euro 2024 fall from 80.2% to 36.1%.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Slovenia vs Serbia stats from their Euro 2024 Group C clash at Fußball Arena München, Germany.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Slovenia vs Serbia: Post-Match Facts
- Serbia’s Luka Jovic scored the latest result-altering goal in a UEFA European Championship match of all time (excl. extra-time), with his equaliser timed at exactly 95 minutes.
- Slovenia remain winless at the UEFA European Championship in five matches (D4 L1) – today was only the second time they’d gone ahead in a game at the finals, with their other game ending 3-3 against Yugoslavia at Euro 2000, a game they’d led 3-0.
- Serbia’s equaliser was the sixth goal scored in the 90th minute of a match at Euro 2024, already as many as were scored in the 90th minute of matches at Euro (excl. extra-time).
- Aleksandar Mitrovic had six shots in this match, the most by a player in a game at Euro 2024. He failed to score, meaning the last four players to have 6+ shots in a European Championship match have all failed to find the net in that game, with the other three coming at Euro 2020 (Dani Olmo + Gerard Moreno for Spain vs Switzerland, Raheem Sterling for England vs Denmark, all six attempts).
- Slovenia’s Zan Karnicnik scored just his second goal for his country, with his other coming against San Marino in September 2023 in a European Championship qualifier.
- Aged 35 years and 213 days, Dusan Tadic became the oldest player to start a match for Serbia (or Yugoslavia) at a major tournament; the previous oldest was current manager Dragan Stojkovic at Euro 2000 for Yugoslavia vs the Netherlands (35 years, 114 days).
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