Croatia 1-1 Denmark: 5 Talking Points as Croatia win 3-2 on penalties, World Cup 2018

Croatia will now face Russia in the Quarter-finals
Croatia will now face Russia in the Quarter-finals

#2 Denmark's Christensen experiment goes horribly wrong

Christensen lasted just 45 minutes of the game
Christensen lasted just 45 minutes of the game

Age Hareide took a gamble by deploying Chelsea star Andreas Christensen in midfield while he resorted to the more experienced center-back duo of Simon Kjaer and Mathias Jorgensen at the heart of Denmark's defence. However, the manager's attempt to utilize the highly-talented youngster in midfield backfired immensely as Christensen barely had a kick of the ball against the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic in the middle of the park.

The 22-year-old never looked like recovering from his unlucky deflection that helped Croatia equalize and lacked the mobility to close down his counterparts in midfield, who were far more superior on the night.

Christensen was replaced by Lasse Schone at the end of the first half and it quickly paid off as the energetic midfielder allowed Denmark to have a firm grip on the game in the second half, helping them to orchestrate things and step forward easily.

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