During the Group D match between Croatia and Spain, 3 million people had 5.4 million interactions across Facebook as the third screen continues to become an integral part of how sports fans engage with live events.
Here, we look at the three most talked about moments as well as the five players that got fingers tapping away at keys.
THREE MOST TALKED ABOUT MOMENTS
1. CROATIA’S KALINIC SCORES.
Having fallen behind early on, Croatia were in need of something special to come back into the game. Nikola Kalinis provided just that with one of the best goals of Euro 2016 so far, a finish resembling more a martial arts move than a footballer’s finish.
2. MORATA IS FLAGGED OFFSIDE
Having given Spain the lead, Alvaro Morata’s effort was more remembered for calls that he was in fact offside. Once he was flagged, it seemed Facebook users were quick to have their say.
3. PERISIC GIVES CROATIA THE LEAD
As the match went down the wire to the final 4 minutes, Ivan Perisic scored a vital goal which saw Croatia beat Spain and claim top spot in the group.
FIVE MOST DISCUSSED PLAYERS
1. LUKA MODRIC- 16% of conversation
Modric missed out on this one due to injury but still had fans talking. Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic thanked Modric for predicting which way Sergio Ramos would hit his missed penalty, getting people talking even as video of the Chinese whispers went viral.
Proud of our #CRO goalkeeper @SubasicDanijel, saving 5 of 7 last penalties he faced!#BeProud #EURO2016 https://t.co/MvYQdBH7rf
— HNS | CFF (@HNS_CFF) June 22, 2016
2. SERGIO RAMOS – 12%
Ramos missing a potentially decisive penalty was obviously going to get people talking and the Real Madrid man’s failure from the spot was certainly a conversation starter.
3. ALVARO MORATA – 10%
Morata opened the scoring in the match’s seventh minute, seeing the Spain striker liked and shared enormously on Facebook. Having completed his return to Real Madrid this week, Morata proved his value.
4. ANDRES INIESTA – 7%
From Ivan Rakitic’s glowing tribute to his Barcelona teammate to Iniesta’s admission that he was going to take the fated penalty, the midfield maestro was a name on a lot of people’s lips.
5. MARKO ROG – 5%
Rog was given a yellow card early on for tripping Cesc Fabregas, before being replaced by Mateo Kovacic in a display so dreary it got people chatting for largely the wrong reasons.
