Croatia lost the match against the world champion France in Paris with 4: 2, in the second round of Group A3 of the League of Nations. After the match against Portugal (1:4), Croatia again conceded four goals.
Lovren’s goal took the lead dor Croatia, and before France took the lead through Martial it equalized through Griezmann. With those 2: 1 for France, they went on the halftime.
Upamecano scored for 3: 2 after a corner and a big mistake by the Croatian defense, while Josip Brekalo equalized in the second half. After playing with the hand of Marcel Brozović, Olivier Giroud scored for the final 4: 2.
Croatia played far better than in Portugal when they lost 4: 1, Zlatko Dalic’s players were better in a large part of the match, but France showed class and punished all the mistakes of their opponent.
The world runner-up conceded as many as eight goals in two games in four days.
Four goals in Domagoj Livaković’s net sounds very ugly, especially if it is known that the Dinamo goalkeeper received the same amount on Saturday against Portugal, but this time the impression was completely different.
The strange Croatian team offered excellent resistance to the world champions with Melnjak and debutant Uremović on their flanks. Croatia was not afraid of a powerful rival, from the very beginning it set itself up bravely, decisively, and aggressively, but it was not enough. The individual class of the French and several incomprehensible and naive mistakes of Croatia determined the winner of this match.
Croatia opened the match in a completely different way than in Porto. Aggressive, concentrated, and scattered Croatia completely outplayed the world champions in the 43rd minute of the first half, but then conceded two cheap goals in the very end.
France 4 – 2 Croatia
Goals: 0-1 Lovren 17′, 1-1 Griezmann 43′, 2-1 Martial 45+1′, 2-2 Brekalo 55′, 3-2 Upamecano 65′, 4-2 Giroud 77′
Yellow cards: Lenglet (F), Kante (F), N’Zonzi (F); Caleta-Car (C), Brozovic (C), Lovren (C)
France: Lloris; Hernandez, Lenglet, Upamecano; Mendy, Nzonzi, Kante, Sissoko; Griezmann; Ben Yedder, Martial
Croatia: Livaković; Uremović (Vida 57′), Lovren, Ćaleta-Car, Melnjak; Kovačić, Brozović, Vlašić; Rebić (Brekalo 55′), Kramarić, Perišić (Pasalic 66′).
