Tag: Croatia

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 900th goal of his remarkable career on Thursday as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in Lisbon in their first game of the UEFA Nations League.

Ronaldo, 39, put behind him a disappointing Euro 2024 in which he failed to score as he turned in a Nuno Mendes cross in the 34th minute at the Estadio da Luz to reach the landmark.

He appeared emotional as he celebrated the goal, his 131st in a Portugal shirt. Half of his goals were scored for Real Madrid, with the remainder spread across his spells at Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United and current club Al-Nassr.

Diogo Dalot’s goal had put Portugal in front early on before Ronaldo netted, with a Dalot own-goal reducing the deficit before the break.

The teams are in Group A1 of the latest edition of the Nations League along with Poland and Scotland.

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Portugal next host Scotland, who lost 3-2 to Poland, in Lisbon on Sunday.

Poland had been 2-0 up as Sebastian Szymanski gave them an early lead and captain Robert Lewandowski added a penalty just before the break.

However, Billy Gilmour pulled one back for League A newcomers Scotland moments after the restart, and Scott McTominay equalised before Roma’s Zalewski sneaked his spot-kick under Angus Gunn deep into stoppage time.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Slovakia and Northern Ireland in League C, while Sweden — now being coached by Jon Dahl Tomasson — beat Azerbaijan 3-1 away in Baku with Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak netting twice.

History was made in League D as San Marino, the world’s worst team according to the FIFA rankings, beat Liechtenstein 1-0 to claim their first ever competitive win.

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Luka Modric said on Friday that Croatia “don’t mind being dark horses” at Euro 2024 despite consistently performing above expectations at recent major tournaments.

Zlatko Dalic’s men kick off their Euro campaign against Spain in Group B at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday, as they bid to reach the knockout phase for a fifth consecutive major tournament.

Croatia made the final at the 2018 World Cup, losing to France, and then finished third in Qatar two years ago.

Despite those successes, Croatia are again not being touted as one of the favourites for the title in Germany, with France, England, the hosts and Portugal widely considered the leading contenders.

“Being the dark horses, we dont mind about that,” Modric told a pre-match press conference.

“Everyone else being the favourites, us being the dark horses, we’re used to that. We have to show our unity…

“We’re here to make a big result. I think we’ve shown in last the few years we belong at the top of European football.

“In these championships we’ve missed the last step to make a really good result. I hope we can do that at this tournament and really do something big.”

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Luka Modric, who lifted his sixth Champions League title with Real Madrid earlier this month, is playing in his ninth major international tournament.

The midfielder made his tournament debut at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and was an unused substitute in Croatia’s opening game of that event, a 1-0 loss to Brazil at the Olympiastadion.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” he said. “But I’ve always said if someone gave me a piece of paper and said ‘Write down what you want to achieve in your career’, I definitely would’ve been afraid to write all this down. I didn’t expect all this to happen.

“After all these years, though, here I am.

“I remember 2006, it was a phenomenal atmosphere in this stadium. I hope this will be the case tomorrow and on the pitch we’ll give a lot to our supporters to be joyful about.”

Croatia have been handed a tricky draw, with a game against reigning champions Italy in Leipzig rounding out their group campaign on June 24, after a match with Albania in Hamburg next Wednesday.

“We have the hardest group, that’s a fact, everyone admits that. So, with Italy, Spain, I think that the start is important,” said coach Dalic.

“We would like not to lose, but it’s not our aim. We wish to show ourselves in the best light possible to make a good start.

“We would like to win, with respect to our opponents who have a great national team. Of course it will be difficult, a very demanding match, but our national team is very powerful.”

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PARIS: France failed to retain the title of UEFA Nations League as their hopes to qualify for the final four were shattered after a home defeat by Croatia in a Group A1 match, here at Stade de France Stadium on Monday.

France’s eagerness to secure their first win in the competition remained unfulfilled as Croatia avenged the World Cup Final loss to rule the World Champions out of the League.

Luka Modric scored the penalty in the fifth minute after Ante Budimir was knocked down inside the area by Ibrahima Konate, which remained the lone goal of the match as Karim Benzema’s side failed to take down the lead.

France have now lost two and drawn two games in the competition to finish at the bottom of Group A1 with two points.

Meanwhile, Denmark top the group on nine points – two points ahead of Croatia – after a 2-0 win over Austria.

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