CROATIA U21 NATIONAL TEAM LOST FROM PORTUGAL

In the qualification match for the European Championship 2025, the Croatian U-21 national team was defeated by Portugal with a score of 5:1 in Faro at the São Luís Stadium.

Three goals fell in the first 15 minutes. Already in the third minute, Fabio Silva rattled the net for Croatia, while Pedro Santos extended Portugal’s lead eight minutes later. Just a few moments later, the Portuguese goalkeeper brings down Mauro Perkovic, and the referee points to the goal line. The sure performer of the penalty kick was Marin Ljubičić who scored in the 15th minute with a brilliant “panenka”.

Santos scores his second goal just seven minutes later, while Paulo Bernardo increases the lead of the home team to 4:1. In the 63rd minute, Silva scores from a penalty kick after Perković knocked down the Portuguese attacker.

I congratulate Portugal on their well-deserved victory. This is an extremely high-quality team. In the first half, we were below any level in defense. We made incomprehensible mistakes that decided the game in the early stages, and there is no excuse for this kind of performance. Afterwards, it was difficult to ‘get out’ “Regardless of this heavy defeat, after these away games we are still in a good position to go to the Euros because we now have four home games waiting for us
DRAGAN SKOČIĆ, CROATIA

Another match was played in Group G, Greece beat Andorra with a score of 1:0.

SOURCE: Croatian Football Federation