Serie A players sent Croatia through to the World Cup quarter-finals, as Nikola Vlasic of Torino, Marcelo Brozovic of Inter and Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic converted in the penalty shoot-out against Japan.
The game was 1-1 after 90 minutes, former Inter winger Ivan Perisic with a header to cancel out the surprise Daizen Maeda opener.
There were no more goals in extra time either, so it was the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament in Qatar.
The hero was Dominik Livakovic, saving three of the four spot-kicks he faced, while Marko Livaja hit the upright for Croatia.
All three scorers for Croatia currently play in Serie A, as Torino’s Vlasic, Brozovic of Inter and finally Atalanta star Pasalic converted to send them through to the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
Pasalic has form, because he also scored the decisive penalty in the 2016 Italian Supercup shoot-out for Milan against Juventus.
Croatia are into the World Cup quarter-finals for the third time in their history after 1998 and 2018, and in all three cases needed penalties to book their spot.