🥇 MOTM: The masked crusader saves Croatia's World Cup | OneFootball

Croatia booked their place in the last-16 of the World Cup after a tense and nervous goalless draw with Belgium.

And our Man of the Match is …

Joško Gvardiol (Croatia)

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There’s an old saying about football coming down to fine margins, and that was there for the world to see in the final seconds of Croatia’s clash with Belgium.

Deep into stoppage time Croatia were clinging onto the precious point that would send them into the knockout rounds and the Belgians hammering the box in search of the goal that would salvage their status.

Another inviting cross from the Belgium right landed in the six-yard box, took a ricochet and fell perfectly at the feet of Romelu Lukaku.

The goal was about to burst. It had to burst. It was inevitable. Belgium were going through.

But out of nowhere, a 20-year-old masked crusader stretched his long left leg out of nowhere and with it poked the ball out of play, leaving Lukaku and Belgium open-mouthed with disbelief.

Joško Gvardiol saved Croatia’s World Cup with the flick of his boot, meaning his country keep up their record of making it out of the group stage at every World Cup they have been involved in.

There were strong performances all over the pitch from Zlatko Dalić’s men, Luka Modrić didn’t appear to give the ball away, Marcelo Brozović never stopped doing the dirty work but it’s the RB Leipzig defender who stood out above the rest.

There were nine clearances from the centre back, three accurate long balls and his ability to bring the ball out from defence relieved the pressure of his side constantly.

But sometimes football matches can’t be determined by that just the stats and analytics. Sometimes football is purely down to a single moment.

And thanks to Gvardiol’s intervention in one of the final moments of this game, Croatia are staying in Qatar and Belgium are heading home.