September 5, 2020 – In an opening match of this year’s football Nations League, Portugal defeated Croatian national team in Porto, with the result 4:1.
The current European champions played against the World Cup finalists in Porto, so the expectations were high. The teams started in the following formations:
PORTUGAL: Lopes – Joao Cancelo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Guerreiro – Danilo – Joao Moutinho, Fernandes – Jota, Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva
CROATIA: Livaković – Barišić, Vida, Lovren, Jedvaj – Vlašić, Kovačić, Pašalić – Rebić, Kramarić, Brekalo. 
Slobodan Kadic
While the game started with some great attacks by the Croatian team, it soon became one-sided, with Portugal being completely in charge. Before the first goal was scored in 41st minute by Joao Cancelo, Portugal managed to hit the goalposts three times (!). The first half finished 1:0 for Portugal, and some commentators say that it was probably the worst half-time played by Croatia since Zlatko Dalić has been in charge of the team.
Slobodan Kadic
Things didn’t improve much in the second half for the Croatian team. Diogo Jota scored in the 58th minute, and in the 70th Joao Felix made it 3:0. In the 90th minute it seemed that the final result wouldn’t be a total disaster, as Bruno Petković scored and made it 3:1, seconds before the official time was up. Andre Silva, however, managed to score yet another goal in the last seconds of the game, making 4:1 the final result.
Slobodan Kadic
In three days, Croatia will play the world champions France at the Saint-Denis stadium in Paris. Hopefully, at least somewhat better news for the Croatian national football team and their fans will come from Paris.
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