Ivan Perisic’s last gasp winner gave Croatia a 2-1 win over Spain that condemned the defending European champions to a heavyweight last 16 clash against Italy.
But the loss means more than just that. Spain have been on an outstanding run of form in the Euros and Croatia’s win over them must not be considered anything less than a miracle.
Here are 6 stats that will convince you
– This was the first time Spain lost a match at the Euros since 20 June 2004. On that occasion, Portugal beat them 1-0 in Group A.
– This was the first EVER Euro match which Spain lost after taking the lead.
– Croatia ended Spain’s remarkable 10-match winning streak in European competition. This includes the qualifiers. Also, they didn’t CONCEDE A SINGLE goal in this streak.
– This essentially means that Spain conceded a goal at the Euros for the first time in 735 minutes. 735 minutes!
– Spain conceded more than one goal for the first time at the Euros since their 2-1 defeat against France in the the Euro 2000 quarters. That’s 17 matches without conceding more than a goal.
– Sergio Ramos missed a penalty in regulation time for Spain. This is an anomaly — Spain have never missed a penalty in regulation time since Real Madrid’s legendary Raul scuffed from the spot against France in Euro 2000.