However, refusing to be beaten by Neymar’s 105th-minute goal, substitute forward Bruno Petkovic managed to latch onto a cross just minutes later and thanks to a lucky deflection, somehow found the back of the net.
Setting up a tense penalty shootout, the Croatians, who had won all three of their last three shootouts, would have felt confident.
Although facing the Brazilian fans, Croatia managed to hold their nerve, and after Brazil and Real Madrid’s Rodrygo missed his country’s opening spot-kick, the Europeans were given a massive boost, thanks to goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, who made a superb save.
Scoring all of their spot kicks, all the pressure fell to Marquinhos to score Brazil’s fourth spot kick or face elimination, and unfortunately for the PSG centre-back, the post came to his opponent’s rescue.
Croatia’s dramatic triumph will now see them play the winner of the Netherlands and Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals.
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