Although their lead didn’t last long, Croatia, thanks to a bullet header from defender Josko Gvardiol, drew first blood against Morocco in Saturday’s World Cup third-place game.
After losing their semi-final 3-0 against Argentina, Luka Modric’s Croatia are looking to finish the prestigious international tournament in third place. The same can be said for Morocco, who unfortunately failed to beat France in the competition’s penultimate round.
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Now playing against each other for the right to be considered the world’s third-best team, Croatia and Morocco are going head-to-head at the Khalifa Internationa Stadium.
Opening the game’s scoring after just seven minutes, Gvardiol netted an empathic header.
This set-piece was beautiful ?
Josko Gvardiol diving like a salmon to put Croatia ahead against Morocco!
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— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 17, 2022
Morocco, however, struck back almost immediately through Achraf Dari. As things stand, the game is 1-1 but expect a lot more goals to be scored.
Two goals in two minutes! ?
Morocco equalise straight away against Croatia.
Who said the third place play-off would be boring?!
??? Watch on @BBCOne, @BBCiPlayer and the BBC Sport app.#BBCWorldCup #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/c36a7NOJjQ
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 17, 2022