Croatia v Denmark, 01 July 2018

Kick-off: 9.00pm local Croatia won 3-2 on penalties After extra time - 1-1 at 90 minutes Croatia v Denmark was Match 52 of FIFA World Cup 2018 Refereeing team: Referee: Nestor Pitana (Argentina) Assistant Referee 1: Hernan Maidana (Argentina) Assistant Referee 2: Juan Belatti (Argentina) Fourth Official: Enrique Caceres (Paraguay) Reserve AR: Eduardo Cardozo (Paraguay) VAR: Mauro Vigliano (Argentina) This was only the second time that Croatia had played in the knock-out stages of the World Cup finals. They went on to finish in third place in 1998. Denmark had reached the knock-out stages of the World Cup finals for the fourth time in five appearances (also 1986, 1998 and 2002) but had now only progressed beyond the round of 16 in 1998. Kasper Schmeichel saved Luka Modrić's penalty in the 116th minute. Denmark conceded three penalties at this World Cup finals; the most by a nation at the World Cup finals since Greece in 1994 (also three). This became only the second-ever game at the World Cup finals when both nations had scored inside the first four minutes; also Argentina versus Nigeria at Porto Alegre in 2014. Mathias Jørgensen's opening goal was timed at 57 seconds. It was the quickest goal at the World Cup finals since Clint Dempsey scored after 29 seconds for USA against Ghana in Natal, Brazil in 2014. Luka Modrić equalled Darijo Srna's record for the most appearances by a Croatia player at the World Cup finals and European Championships finals (18).