A late Ivan Perisic goal saw Croatia beat Spain 2-1 in Bordeaux in the final round of Group Stage games at Euro 2016, leaving the reigning champions to face Italy in the Last 16.
Sport360 rounds-up the best of the post-match quotes from the South-West of France.
“This was an important result for us. We beat the European champions, a really strong team, but it isn’t about this one match. We are a very strong team, we can play anyone and try to be successful.
“Today I was able to change five players as I wanted to play the next round with fresh players and test some young players. That makes this result even more important. We wanted to win the group and we have achieved that.
“What has especially pleased me is that we were really aggressive. We played to win every single match, but this couldn’t have happened without such great supporters. We play and fight for Croatians all over the world. This team is like our nation and our players show how you represent your country, how you have to act.”
The good news keeps coming for Croatia. Cacic says he's hopeful Modric and Mandzukic will be fit for the next round #CRO
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) June 21, 2016
“What matters is the success of Croatia and I hope we can go a long way. We have a great group of guys here and we showed that tonight. There were some minor mistakes tonight and that is something we need to fix for the next match. We hope to be successful in fixing these, and I’m really proud to be a part of this team.
“Each player here deserves to be here. Those guys made it clear today that we can count on them and that they are the future of this team. Our comeback after that early goal is a testament to the character of this team, because not many teams could make that comeback after such an early lead by a team as strong as Spain.”
Ivan Perisic: Man of the match vs Spain #CROESP #EURO2016 @HNS_CFF pic.twitter.com/daCsbUCT1a
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) June 21, 2016
“The players were sat in silence. They don’t enjoy losing. We had the game under control, I’m not going to defend our performance excessively. We played quite well but just one slip of concentration at the end; I don’t have any complaints about the players.
“We have time to analyse what the game against Italy means. It wasn’t the path we wanted to take but that’s football! [This was] a game it looked like we had under control but we will try and recover as well as possible from this setback and be in as good a condition as possible on Monday. We didn’t play badly but this is the result and we need to prepare to play against Italy.”
“They’re a really good side. It was quite a strange game. They are a very strong team. We dominated the game and created chances. I missed a penalty when I could have put us in front, but it wasn’t to be.
“Although it’s a bad result, the aim was to get through the group stage and we’ve managed that. We would have liked to have finished first in order to possibly avoid some of the stronger sides, but if you want to be champions, you have to be able to beat everyone, from the favourites to the smaller teams.”
