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Marvelous. What a game. Football bloody hell. These are but a few of the superlatives used to describe the Euro 2020 last-16 game between Spain and Croatia.
When fans started attending games at Euro 2020, their main motivation was to get entertained. And, boy, was there entertainment on Monday.
Spain, a team that had struggled in front of goal and failed to score in each of their first two group matches, suddenly found their scoring touch. Meanwhile, Croatia, a team that rarely concedes more than two goals, suddenly could not hold off an onslaught despite their best efforts in 120 minutes.
In the end, La Roja triumphed 5-3 in a game that had several memorable moments.
Spain win 8-goal thriller
There are some teams that start tournaments slowly and gradually grow into their stride. Traditionally, Spain are not known for that but their Euro 2020 journey seems to have taken such a turn.
They started the tournament with two draws against Poland and Sweden before routing Slovakia 5-0 in their final group game to progress to the knockout rounds. However, the performance of Luis Enrique’s side in the last-16 game against Croatia was even more eruptive.
After going 3-1 up, Spain threw away their lead, allowing Croatia to claw their way back to make it 3-3. La Roja had their backs against the wall in the early stages of extra-time but once they managed to weather the storm, their response was epic.
Goals from Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal consigned Croatia to a 5-3 defeat, as Spain ensured there was no comeback on Monday.
Easily game of the tournament
We’ve seen some great games at Euro 2020 so far, but none comes close to the thrilling encounter that Spain vs Croatia was. The two teams played out an end-to-end game and neither side held back.
“We have dominated the game and they had generated nothing until the goal,” said Luis Enrique said in his post-match press conference, as quoted by Football Espana.
Luis Enrique added:
“We gave up the lead, we drew and from there, I saw that we continued to generate chances. The game was crazy from 80 minutes and these 10 minutes are a good thing. I will give you the headlines: ‘Enjoy football.’”
Both Spain's strengths and flaws have been on display at Euro 2020. However, it remains to be seen if La Roja can reproduce such ruthless performance in their upcoming games.
