EURO: Croatia top Group D

Croatia shocked Spain 2-1 to finish top of Group ‘D’ in their Euro 2016 match played on Tuesday.

Both teams will play in the last 16 of the Euros as Spain finished runners-up.

The Spanish went ahead first when Cesc Fabregas set up Alvaro Morata to tap home the opener past Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

But a determined Croatia was soon back in the match when Nikola Kalinic scored.

Everything seems to be going badly for Spain when Sergio Ramos failed to convert from the penalty spot which would have helped them to go ahead. That miss and Perisic’s. The 87th-minute goal ensured that Croatia inflicted the first defeat on Spain in 15 matches.

It looks like a costly defeat for Spain who will now face Italy on Monday in Paris in a repeat of 2012 final while Croatia has to wait to know their opponents.

The loss in itself was not a big surprise when you consider that Spain has been struggling in most of their matches at the Euro 2016 and was always a matter of time on when they would crack.

Northern Ireland lost 1-0 to German but still made it to the last 16 of the Euro 2016.

Ireland was helped by the fact that Turkey thrashed Czech Republic 2-0 also on Tuesday night.

Northern Ireland goes through as one of the four best third-placed teams owing to a better record than Turkey and Albania.

Germany could easily have won their match by more goals but the world champions wasted plenty of chances in front of goal. They will have Mario Gomez to thank for the only goal. Northern Ireland did well to frustrate the Germans with great defending.

Poland reached the knock-out stages for the first time after edging out already knocked out Ukraine in Group ‘C’.

Jakub Blaszczykowski scored the all-important goal for Poland in the 54th minute.

The Poles showed plenty of determination early in the match and it was shown by misses from Arkadiusz Milik and Robert Lewandowski. Good defending by Ukraine ensured Poland had not scored going to the break but they could not hang on till the end and will bow out with a lot of pride.