Italy qualified for the Euro 2024 last 16 thanks to a dramatic goal from Mattia Zaccagni deep into added time. Check out the best facts and analyse the Opta data with our Croatia vs Italy stats page.
Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th-minute goal broke Croatian hearts, as it confirmed Italy – not Croatia – finished second in Group B to qualify for the last 16 of Euro 2024.
Luka Modric became the oldest goalscorer in Euros history as he made up for a penalty miss with a goal just 33 seconds after the miss, but in the end, his goal was in vain.
With the late equaliser, Italy will face Switzerland in Berlin on 29 June, while Croatia now have a nervous wait to see if they can be among the best third-place finishers and reach the knockout stage. It feels unlikely, with just two points on the board. The Opta supercomputer doesn’t give them much hope, either, projecting a last-16 spot for the Croatians in just 2.7% of simulations.
The first half of this encounter was tight, cautious and dare we say… dull. With neither side wanting to concede first, most of the possession was in the middle third of the pitch.
While Croatia had more of the ball, Italy crafted out more chances in the opening half, and it was Alessandro Bastoni who gave Dominik Livakovic his first real test in the 27th minute. Bastoni’s powerful header from Nicolò Barella’s fantastic cross was brilliantly saved by the Croatian goalkeeper, tipping the ball over the bar.
With Croatia needing to win this match to make it through to the knockout stages, they needed to step it up in the second half. They were given the chance to take the lead just seven minutes after the break, when VAR intervened to give a penalty following Davide Frattesi’s handball in the box.
Modric stepped up, but saw his penalty saved by Italian captain Gianluigi Donnarumma. Excluding shootouts, it was Croatia’s third consecutive penalty miss in major tournament football, after Bruno Petkovic’s miss in their opening game of the tournament versus Spain and Modric’s 2018 World Cup miss against Denmark.
The Croatian captain needn’t have worried. Just 33 seconds later, he was presented with a chance to redeem himself after another excellent Donnarumma save. Ante Budimir’s shot was parried out by the goalkeeper, but only to Modric who slammed the ball high into the Italian net. In doing so, Modric became the oldest goalscorer in European Championship history.
Winning his 178th cap for Croatia tonight, Modric’s goal looked like it had given him an opportunity to extend that national team record further this summer, but Zaccagni’s goal might have spelled the end of the legendary midfielder’s international career. If that transpires, it’ll be a cruel way to end such a phenomenal 18 years in a Croatia shirt.
With Italy set to face the uncertainty of a third-place finish, they ended a run of 281 minutes without a Euros goal with a perfect curling strike from substitute Zaccagni. That strike was the ninth goal in second-half added time at Euro 2024 – already equalling the highest tally seen at a European Championship tournament.
For Italy, Group B was always going to be a tricky test with Spain and Croatia placed alongside them. They beat Albania in their opening game, as expected, but even collecting three points in that match felt harder than it should have been. They didn’t attempt a single shot on target in the second half of this game until Zaccagni’s goal with nearly the last kick of the game.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Croatia vs Italy stats from their Euro 2024 Group B clash at Leipzig Stadium in 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.
Croatia vs Italy: Post-Match Facts
- At the age of 38 years and 289 days, Croatia’s Luka Modric is the oldest player to ever score at the UEFA European Championship finals.
- Italy have come from behind to avoid defeat in two of their three group games at Euro 2024, after also beating Albania 2-1 on MD1 – they’d only done so in two group games previously in the finals of the competition (2-1 win against Bulgaria in 2004 and 1-1 draw against Romania in 2008).
- This is just the second time Croatia have failed to win any of their group games at an edition of the UEFA European Championship finals (D2 L1), after previously doing so in 2004 (D2 L1).
- Each of the last four meetings between Croatia and Italy in all competitions have been drawn, since a 2-0 victory for Croatia in a friendly in August 2006.
- Croatia have now failed to score each of their last three penalties taken in major competitions, while overall they’ve only scored with two of their last six penalties (ex. shootouts).
- There was just 33 seconds between Luka Modric’s saved penalty and his opening goal; his sixth goal at the finals of a major competition for Croatia. Indeed, he’s just the second player to score at four different editions of the Euros after Cristiano Ronaldo (5).
- Including shootouts, Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma has conceded just two of his last seven penalties faced at the UEFA European Championship finals, saving four of them, with one hitting the woodwork.
- Mattia Zaccagni scored his first goal for Italy, while at 97 minutes and 19 seconds, it’s the second-latest goal scored in a game at the Euros (excl. extra time) behind Hungary’s Kevin Csoboth against Scotland (99:33).
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