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| Adrien RABIOT of France and Nikola VLASIC of Croatia during the UEFA Nations League, group 1 match between Croatia and France at Stadion Poljud on June 6, 2022 in Split, Croatia. |
Andrej Kramaric scored
a late penalty as Croatia salvaged a 1-1 draw at home against world champion
France on Monday that left both teams still chasing a first win in the Nations
League.
Juventus
midfielder Adrien Rabiot fired France ahead on 52 minutes in Split as
coach Didier Deschamps selected an inexperienced team without star
forwards Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema.
Croatia equalized
seven minutes from time when Kramaric won and converted a spot-kick.
“We did some
good things taking into account all the changes. We were ahead and we could
have got the second goal. It’s a shame we gave them the equalizer with the
penalty,” Deschamps told M6. “Of course the result doesn’t fully
satisfy me. But there’s tiredness to factor in and with all the other matches
I’m forced to make changes. It’s an ideal preparation for the World Cup.”
France and Croatia
have just one point apiece in League A, Group 1. France was beaten 2-1 by
Denmark in their opening game at home last week, while Croatia crashed to a 3-0
loss to Austria.
Denmark top the
section on six points after defeating Austria 2-1 in Vienna in a game that was
delayed Monday by an hour and a half because of a power outage.
On a night Luka
Modric earned his 150th cap for Croatia, Deschamps handed a number of
fringe players the chance to make an impression before the World Cup starts in
Qatar in November.
But it was
experienced defender Presnel Kimpembe, who raced back to block as Ante
Budimir hesitated to shoot with teammate Lovro Majer also in
position for a tap-in.
Christopher Nkunku,
coming off a brilliant season with RB Leipzig, dinked the ball home over Dominik
Livakovic but was adjudged offside on the half-hour. Moussa Diaby was
then denied by Livakovic as he burst towards goal down the right, with Aurelien
Tchouameni’s long-range drive punched away by the Croatia goalkeeper.
Rabiot broke the
deadlock when he was played in by a superb ball from Wissam Ben Yedder, sweeping
clinically inside the near post for only his second international goal.
Substitute Antoine Griezmann saw a shot repelled by Livakovic shortly
before Croatia was awarded a penalty following a VAR review after it was
initially overruled for offside.
Mike Maignan saved
at the feet of Luka Sucic, but Jonathan Clauss caught Kramaric
from behind, the Hoffenheim striker calmly rolling in from the spot after a
lengthy wait to review the incident.
Nikola Vlasic threatened
to snatch a first win for Croatia over France in nine attempts, but Maignan got
down sharply to turn behind. Griezmann was then unable to take advantage
of a miskick by Josip Juranovic in the closing moments as he dragged
wide.
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