A 94th-minute penalty rescued a point for the Czech Republic in their dramatic 2-2 draw with Croatia as flares thrown onto the pitch marred Friday’s Euro 2016 match.
With Croatia 2-1 up and with one foot in the last 16, referee Mark Clattenberg briefly halted play late in the game when flares thrown by Croatian fans landed on the pitch in Saint-Etienne.
When the match resumed, Croatia defender Domagoj Vida was penalised for handball and Tomas Necid drilled home the resulting penalty, deep in added time, to claim their first point in Group D.
European football’s governing body UEFA are poised to impose further sanctions on the Croatian Football Federation for the crowd trouble.
Read the full match report, click here.
Here’s the best of the post-match interviews from the match:
Ante Cacic, Croatia coach:
“These people are terrorists, they are not fans.
“95 percent of our supporters are ashamed in front of Europe, the players are very sad that after playing a beautiful match this happens.”
#CRO midfielder @ivanrakitic is the @carlsberg Man of the Match 👏#EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/inBn1JQrdk
— UEFA EURO 2016 (@UEFAEURO) June 17, 2016
Petr Cech, Czech Republic goalkeeper:
“I must say the pause due to their fans helped us.
“They were in control at that time and they suddenly lost rhythm and we could capitalise on that. We regained composure and although they had some counter-attacks (before the pause), from that moment on they didn’t have anything.”
