Andrej Kramaric’s Seventieth-minute header was sufficient for Croatia to clinch a 2-1 victory over Scotland, with the guests denied a last-gasp equaliser.
The ahead accomplished the comeback after Igor Matanovic cancelled out Ryan Christie’s opener, however Kristijan Jakic’s blushes had been spared as his last-second personal aim was disallowed for an offside towards Che Adams.
In a reasonably even first half, Christie obtained the breakthrough, latching onto Luka Sucic’s sliced tried clearance, and bundling the ball over the road with assist from Duje Caleta-Automobile.
Nonetheless, just below 4 minutes later, Croatia had been again on stage phrases as Ivan Perisic cushioned the ball to Matanovic, who drilled his low shot into the bottom-right nook.
The hosts upped the stress after the break, and Sucic thought he had given them the lead, solely to have his aim chalked off for a foul within the build-up.
And so they obtained their reward when Craig Gordon pushed away Borna Sosa’s volley, with Kramaric available to nod it in from shut vary when it looped into the air.
Adams had already despatched a looping effort large of the far put up in his seek for an equaliser and thought he had lastly obtained it after pressuring Jakic into poking it over the road. Nonetheless, he had performed so from an offside place so VAR dominated it out, and Scotland had been denied a primary level this Nations League marketing campaign.
FULL TIME: Croatia 2-1 Scotland.
The hosts take the factors after getting back from a aim behind in Zagreb.#CROSCO pic.twitter.com/67TR0US419
— Scotland Nationwide Workforce (@ScotlandNT) October 12, 2024
Knowledge Debrief: Scotland undergo extra late heartbreak
Late drama appears to comply with Scotland in every single place on this competitors in the mean time – they misplaced their first two video games within the competitors as a result of late objectives regardless of placing up a battle.
As such, Scotland prolonged their longest winless run in aggressive matches of their historical past (P9 D3 L6), whereas they’ve now misplaced 4 consecutive video games for the primary time in 5 years, final doing so in October 2019.
The match-winner, Kramaric, scored his thirtieth aim for Croatia on his 99th look, with greater than half of those (16) coming since he turned 30, whereas he has scored twice as many objectives (eight) than another Croatian participant because the begin of 2023.
