Croatia Vs Spain: Morata, Azpilicueta, Torres score to record 5-3 win

Croatia Vs Spain: Morata, Azpilicueta, Torres score to record 5-3 win

Akan Anwankwo
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:41 PM
  • Croatia vs Spain ended in an eight-goal thriller as the contest ended in a 5-3 scoreline
  • Ceasar Azpilicueta, Alvaro Morata, Ferran Torres and Mikel Oyarzabal were all on the scoresheet
  • Luis Enrique side made it through into the quarter-finals and will face the winner of Germany vs England

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Croatia vs Spain saw the three-time champions go through into the quarter-finals following a 5-3 win in an entertaining contest played in Copenhagen.

The entertaining clash saw the Spaniards show their attacking intent in the early minutes of the game, creating several scoring opportunities.

Koke should have scored in the 18th minute but his shot was well saved by Dominik Livakovic and a minute later, Domagoj Vida made a decisive block from Alvaro Morata's header.

Croatia Vs Spain: Sarabia, Azpilcueta, Torres scores to record 5-3 win
Spain sail through into the quarter finals in the 9-goal thriller against Croatia. Photo Martin Rose
Source: Getty Images

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Then out of nothing, the Croats got their noses in front as a back pass from Pedri slipped the ball under the legs of goalkeeper Unai Simon as it counted as an own-goal for the Barcelona star.

The Eastern Europeans began to grow in confidence as they created chances with Nikola Vlasic hitting the side-netting and Mateo Kovacic could also not keep his effort down.

Luis Enrique's men finally got their well-deserved equalizer as Jose Gaya's shot was saved by Livakovic but fell kindly in the path of Sarabia who drilled his shot home to make it 1-1 in the 38th minute.

Azpilicueta got Spain into the lead for the first time in the match with a towering header from Gaya's cross to make it 2-1 in the 57th minute.

Torres put the lead beyond reach for the Croatians in the 77th minute as he took advantage of a defensive blunder to put the ball through the legs of Livakovic to make it 3-1.

With just over five minutes remaining there was renewed hope for Croatia as substitute Mislav Orsic's ball got over the line following a goal-mouth scramble. 3-2 it was.

There was high drama in the remaining minutes of the game as another substitute sent the match into extra time as Mario Pasalic headed home Orsic's cross in the 92-minute to make it 3-3.

Orsic had a glorious opportunity to restore the lead but his shot went agonizingly over the bar as Spain breathe a sigh of relief.

Minutes later Simon made a save at point-blank range from Andrej Kramaric's shot as they survived another goal-mouth scare.

Spain responded as Alvaro Morata's left foot shot went into the roof of the net to make it 4-3 after an assist from Daniel Olmo

Mikel Oyarzabal made it 5-3 three minutes later as Olmo created the assist for the Real Sociedad midfielder.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that reigning Euros champions Portugal have been dumped out of the Round of 16 after suffering a 1-0 defeat in the hands of Belgium in a thrilling clash staged in Seville.

Despite being pooled in one of the toughest groups, Portugal managed to book a place in the Knockout round after securing a vital point against favourites France in their final group match.

However, their epic journey in the continental showpiece has been brought to a halt, with Thorgan Hazard's first-half wondrous strike booking the Red Devils a place in the quarter-finals.

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Akan Anwankwo
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