Croatia have beaten Morocco 2-1 to secure third place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with Marcelo Brozovic, Mario Pasalic, Martin Erlic and Nikola Vlasic taking home bronze medals to Serie A.
It is the second time that Croatia have finished third at the World Cup, their third on the podium, while Morocco had already made history as the first ever African nation to reach the semi-finals.
Inter midfielder Brozovic was on the bench for this game due to a muscular problem, while Atalanta’s Pasalic, Sassuolo defender Erlic and Vlasic of Torino were sat alongside him.
It was a fiery start to the match with Josko Gvardiol’s header on an Ivan Perisic knockdown in their well-worked free kick routine.
Moments later, Achraf Dari equalised with another diving header after a deadball situation.
Mislav Orsic sealed the 2-1 victory with a spectacular curler into the far top corner.
Morocco also had some Serie A representation in the form of Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat and Sampdoria talent Abdelhamid Sabiri, while Walid Cheddira plays for Bari in Serie B and was born in Italy.