Euro 2024: Mattia Zaccagni puts Italy through to knockout round with last-minute equalizer vs. Croatia

Italy drew 1-1 with Croatia and secured a place in the knockout round at Euro 2024 thanks to Mattia Zaccagni’s goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time,

The tie clinches second place in Group B for Italy, the defending European champions. The draw puts them ahead of Croatia, who had led the match since Luka Modrić‘s 55th minute goal.

With the Italians pressing for a vital equalizer, Riccardo Calafiori’s pass split the Croatia defense and found Zaccagni, who curled his shot past goalkeeper Dominik Livaković.

Croatia had eyes on jumping over Italy and into second place in the group following Modrić’s goal, which finished off a wild one-minute sequence in the match.

Italy’s Davide Frattesi was called for a handball in his own penalty box, which was confirmed following a VAR review. Up stepped Modrić, who tried to go to the bottom right corner, but instead saw his attempt denied by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Croatia retained possession, and Luka Sučić’s cross into the Italian box was flicked on goal by Ante Budimir. That attempt was saved by Donnarumma, but Modrić was on the spot to put home the rebound.

The goal made Modrić the oldest player to ever score at the Euros at 38 years and 289 days old.

Ivica Vastić, who played for Austria from 1996-2008, was the previous record holder at 38 years and 257 days old when he scored against Poland at Euro 2008.

Spain‘s 1-0 win over Albania earned them the group title with Italy finishing second.

Croatia’s only hope of advancing is if England defeats Slovenia by at least three goals in their final Group C match on Tuesday. That would put them among the top four third-place finishers in the tournament and into the knockout round.

GROUP B
*Spain – 9 points
*Italy – 4 points
Croatia – 2 points
Albania – 1 point

*advance to knockout round

Ranking of third-placed teams
Austria – 3 points, 3 goals scored, +1 goal differential (1 game to play)
Slovakia – 3 points, 2 goals scored, 0 goal differential (1 game to play)
Hungary – 3 points, 2 goals scored, -3 goal differential
Slovenia – 2 points, 2 goals scored, 0 goal differential (1 game to play)
Croatia – 2 points, 3 goals scored, -3 goal differential
Czechia – 1 point, 2 goals scored, -1 goal differential (1 game to play)

(Goal difference is the first tiebreaker after points, followed by goals scored, wins, lower disciplinary points total and Euro qualifiers overall ranking)