

In the second match day of Group D, Croatia played against the Czech Republic looking for their ticket to the round of 16 of this European Championship. The team from the Balkans came to Saint-Etienne with three points already in the bag after defeating Turkey on game 1, the Czech needed to win this game after they lost to Spain 1-0. But Croatia proved that they are one of the best teams in the tournament, before this match they had only allowed one goal in the last ten matches.
The Croatian team completely dominated the chances on the first half, they even got ahead on the score sheet on the 37th minute. Perisic completed a fine angled drive from just inside the box and gave Croatia a deserved lead before the break. Then after the break, Ivan Rakitic got his side's second goal after a massive mistake made by Petr Cech who passed the ball to one of his teammates with disadvantage. Brosovic predicted the mistake and took the ball to give it to Rakitic. The Barcelona midfielder dinked the ball over Cech, a fantastic finish.
But the Czech Republic wasn't going to allow another defeat, 14 minutes from the end the comeback started with Skoda who jumped highest in the box to head home a Rosicky cross. Five minutes from the end, a fire work was thrown to the field and the match needed to stop for a few minutes. After it was resumed, the Czech Republic took advantage of the distraction and got a penalty kick called in their favor on the 93rd minute, Necid scored from the spot and equalized the game near the end. Croatia wasn't able to get their ticket, Czech Republic are still alive in the tournament.
Photo credit: UEFA EURO 2016