Croatia v Italy LIVE: Reaction as last-gasp Zaccagni goal sends Azzurri through to Euro 2024 knockouts | OneFootball

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Young fan runs onto pitch for selfie with Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2024

A dramatic added-time goal from Italy’s Mattia Zaccagni snatched a 1-1 draw with Croatia which was enough to earn them a place in the last 16 of Euro 2024 and likely sends Croatia home.

After a goalless first half, Croatia’s Luka Modric had a penalty saved in the 54th minute but just 60 seconds later he smashed home a rebound after Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off another fine save from Ante Budimir.

The goal brought defending champions Italy to life, and they pressed for the equaliser which would take them through and, with time running out, Zaccagni curled home a shot from distance to break Croatian hearts.

It meant Italy finish as Group B runners-up and will face Switzerland in the last 16, while Croatia are third on two points and must wait to see if they will progress as one of the best four third-placed finishers, although it is now unlikely.

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Italy escape after serving up tactical lesson and a reminder - to Euro 2024 hopefuls and themselves

And so Italy became the first team to go where no other nation among the favourites at Euro 2024 have bothered, or dared, or thought worthwhile, so far.

No, not to go all-out-attack and wipe the floor with an opponent - Germany did that on the opening night. Not to drop a big name, either, or to leave out a leading goalscorer.

Instead, Luciano Spalletti ensured the Azzurri were the first of the big guns to attempt to show their tactical proficiency in more than one distinct shape, altering their set-up from a back four and wide forwards in the opening two fixtures to line up 3-5-2 against Croatia in their decisive Group B encounter.

Against Spain in particular, their wide players had failed to have any kind of impact and Federico Chiesa was one of those to pay the price, making way as Spalletti’s alterations saw a roving two-man strikeforce come into play, Gianluca Scamacca also pulled into bench duty, key man from the qualifying campaign Giacomo Raspadori replacing him and Matteo Darmian starting as a third central defender.

It lasted an hour, before panic mode set in.

Italy escape after serving up a tactical lesson - to Euros hopefuls and themselves

Luciano Spalletti made a system change as well as altering his line-up - and it nearly backfired in a terrible way

Chris Wilson24 June 2024 22:35

England expect Euro 2024 improvement as Gareth Southgate reveals ‘honest conversations’

Gareth Southgate says England are “definitely making progress” in terms of fitness, as he said the build-up to the final Euro 2024 group match against Slovenia required “a reset button” and “open and honest conversations”.

The manager clearly hopes this game will be a watershed in the team’s tournament, after two poor opening performances that brought four points but also a lot of criticism. Southgate himself made a point of stating how a lot of that was down to the physical condition of the players, who he found couldn’t press in the way the team wanted. He stressed this is something that has improved over the last week. Southgate specifically pointed to the varying situations of Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane.

“We’re definitely making progress. If you think that when we got Marc Geuhi through the door, he’d had 70 minutes, that was the most he’d played for Crystal Palace in the last three months. Trips [Trippier] hadn’t had a 90 minutes for three months. Then we had Harry and others coming back from injuries as well, so two games in, with a bit of recovery time, all of those will be in a better place. That’s definitely going to help us as we progress through the tournament,” he said.

England expect improvement as Southgate reveals ‘honest conversations’

The manager may make changes in midfield but says improved fitness is key to progression

Chris Wilson25 June 2024 07:00

The brutal truth behind Scotland’s Euro 2024 heartbreak

At least Steve Clarke could point to progress, of sorts. “We scored two goals this time, we only scored one the last time,” said Clarke, as the Scotland manager reflected on another group stage exit from a major tournament. However, it summed up Scotland’s lack of cutting edge at Euro 2024 that the two goals they did score went in off opposition players, in Antonio Rudiger’s own goal and Fabian Schar deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot past his goalkeeper.

If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army and the atmosphere the travelling fans brought to the tournament, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch. If three games brought one point and an early exit, the same as three years ago at Euro 2020, Scotland can hardly pretend to be hard done by. Their 17 shots at Euro 2024 is the joint-lowest ever recorded in a group stage – only Northern Ireland, in 2016, showed less attacking threat and even they managed what Scotland could not and reached the knockouts.

And so the fear before the tournament that Scotland did not have enough goals in the side proved correct, as an absence of creativity and attacking ambition became brutally apparent. In a must-win game against Hungary, Scotland failed to have a shot until the hour. Holding out for one moment – in this case, appealing for a penalty as Stuart Armstrong went to ground in the box along with Hungary’s Willi Orban – was a gamble Clarke took. And it explained Scotland’s passive start. “It was a one-goal game,” he said. For him, it hinged on a “100 per cent” penalty.

The brutal truth behind Scotland’s Euro 2024 heartbreak

If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch

Chris Wilson25 June 2024 03:00

Harry Kane lashes out at ‘people with podcasts trying to promote their own channels’

As Harry Kane was talking about the pressures involved in wearing one shirt, he was offered another. Playing for England brings pressure, responsibility and criticism. The escape route was offered by an enterprising reporter from local German television, inviting Kane to play for seventh-tier SG Lauscha/Neuhaus. The offer included free bratwurst, he said, sufficiently confident to bring a shirt with the striker’s name on it while brandishing a contract. “I’ll have to talk to my agent and see what we can do,” smiled Kane.

The harsher words were reserved for the only other Englishman to win the Golden Boot in the World Cup. Gary Lineker had branded England’s performance against Denmark “s**t” on a podcast. “The bottom line is we haven’t won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that and they know how tough it is,” countered Kane.“All I would say is remember what it is like to wear the shirt and that their words are listened to. I am sure they want us to win a major tournament and being as helpful as they can and building the lads up with confidence would be a much better way of going about it. I’m not telling people not to do their job, it’s their job to analyse games and players. There will be games where I get stick or other players will get stick. Maybe when I’m 40 or 50, I’ll be on one of those shows trying to dig players out – I hope I’m not.”

Harry Kane lashes out at ‘people with podcasts trying to promote their own channels’

Heavy criticism of England’s Euro 2024 performances has come from the likes of Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer but Harry Kane is hitting back

Chris Wilson25 June 2024 02:00