An opportunist second-half goal from Mario Pasalic gave Croatia a 1-0 away win in Denmark in their Nations League Group A1 on Friday as playmaker Luka Modric came off the bench to turn the game around for the visitors.
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It marked the first time the Danes, who made it to the semi-finals of Euro 2020, dropped points in the current competition but the Croatians deserved the victory after a solid defensive performance and some moments of Modric magic.
The best chances of the first half fell to Denmark`s Andreas Cornelius, who had a curling left-foot shot swatted away by the keeper and a goal ruled out three minutes later when fullback Joakim Maehle was deemed to have committed a foul in the build-up.
The introduction of Modric as a halftime substitute changed things for the better for the visitors, and the midfielder began dictating the play, forcing a fine save from Kasper Schmeichel just after the hour mark.
Danish defender Joachim Andersen was lucky to get away with a yellow card for a reckless challenge minutes later as he flew into a sliding tackle on Andrej Kramaric that could well have resulted in his dismissal. Modric's free-kick from that incident was deflected behind and from the resulting corner, again taken by Modric, Pasalic slotted the ball between Schmeichel`s legs to open the scoring in the 69th minute.
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Denmark, who had a Jonas Wind goal ruled out for offside in the 87th minute, still leads the group with six points from three games and will host second-placed Austria on Monday, while Croatia, who are third, travel to Paris to take on bottom side France.
Whereas in the other game between France and Austria, Kylian Mbappe struck a late equalizer to help holders France salvage a 1-1 away draw against Austria as they kept alive their slim hopes of reaching the final four of the Nations League on Friday.
