By Theo Van Zyl
Albania scored late to rescue a point against Croatia, who are now in danger of being eliminated from the European Championships.
Albania scored the fastest-ever goal at a Euros finals in their tournament opener against Italy, with Nedim Bajrami scoring with just 23 seconds on the clock.
It was Albania again who scored early through a well-placed header from Qazim Laci.
Despite Croatia having much of the ball, it was Sylvinho’s Albanian side who had all the chances. On another day, they may have scored two or three goals, but they went into the half-time interval with just one.
Croatia came back into the second half a different team, putting the pressure on Albania with Ivan Perisic teasing crosses in the box.
Just as in their match against Italy, Albania lost their 1-0 lead.
Thanks to a goal from Andrej Kramaric and an own goal from Klaus Gjasula, the Croats found themselves 2-1 up in the space of two minutes.
Albania, having conceded two quickfire goals, completely crumbled. Croatia’s midfield maestros Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic started to gain some control in the middle of the park, it looked to be all over for Albania.
Albania came alive after 90 minutes when the fourth official showed there would be six minutes of added time.
Mario Mitaj’s left-footed cross found Gjasula who made amends for his own goal in style by equalising with just a few minutes to spare.
He is just the second player in Euros history to score for both teams in a match.
Referee Francois Letexier blew the full-time whistle with the game finishing 2-2.
The result leaves both teams with just one point going into their final group games, requiring them to win their final game to qualify for the knockout stages.
Albania crucially have a better goal difference than Croatia, leaving them with a better chance of qualification should they beat Spain on Monday.
Croatia will need a win against Italy, to give them any kind of chance of qualifying, but as it stands they face very long odds of achieving that.
Pictured above: Albania celebrate their last-minute equalizer against Croatia.
Source: Euros 2024/X
