A crazy game Albania will remember forever, says manager

HAMBURG, Germany — Albania's 2-2 draw with Croatia is a match it will never forget, said manager Sylvinho, after his side scored deep in added time to secure a point in its second game of Euro 2024.

Both sides came into the game in desperate need of points having lost their openers, but, in the end, they shared the spoils — to the Albanians' delight and the Croatians' despair.

"To be honest, when you equalize, I think you deserve, in the last two or three minutes, to even win the game," Sylvinho told reporters.

"But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It was an amazing sensation. We're going to remember this game for the rest of our lives.

"I think in the country, in Albania, we are very proud about the supporters, they even come here to help us."

Klaus Gjasula came off the bench with less than 20 minutes to go, but it was enough time for him to score an own goal, which put Croatia ahead, and then grab an equalizer at the death.

"The game was crazy. The pace of the game, it was so hard, so difficult. But, I decided to put him on the pitch. Unfortunately, he was trying to get up to the pace of the game," the manager said.

"It was difficult for him. But, at the end of the game, it was a present for everyone when he scored. What can I say, it's very difficult to come into this kind of game, which is open and of high quality.

"But, I have to say 'thank you'. At the end of the game, he scores and helped us a lot."

That late goal keeps Albania's hopes of progressing to the next round alive. It will take on Spain in its final Group B game, and the manager promised another battle to the end.

"You have to try to enjoy this kind of tournament. It's very hard, it's difficult. What I promised the players and the people is that we will fight for every single point," he said.

"But, I think we deserved to win the game. No worries, though, it doesn't matter. We have to move forward, but we have to fight for every single point.

"It's important for our life (in the tournament), and the life of the (Albanian Football) Federation."

Error in added time

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was left regretting a "really bad" injury time display from his team.

"We wanted to drop deep without any need to do so," Dalic told a post-match media conference.

"We didn't tell them to drop deep, we wanted them to score the third goal, to press.

"So it was weird, it was an error. We shouldn't have allowed the opponent to come onto us.

"This added time was really bad, there was a struggle without any need to play like that."

Croatia will now probably have to beat title-holder Italy in its final Group B match on June 24 to progress to the knockout phase for a fifth straight major tournament, after suffering an opening 3-0 loss to Spain last week.

Croatia has enjoyed an unprecedented spell of success since a surprise run to the World Cup final in 2018, when it lost to France.

There are fears the Euros in Germany could be the end of an era for a team that includes 38-year-old Luka Modric, 35-year-old Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric, who marked his 33rd birthday on Wednesday with a goal.

"This is a different tournament, a different story," said Dalic. "We didn't expect to have such a difficult story in these two matches so it's been a struggle.

"The World Cup was two years ago and our players are getting older."

Agencies