Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol, both from City, played the whole game as Croatia and Albania played to a fun 2-2 draw at Euro 2024.

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In the 11th minute, Qazim Laci broke through the middle and scored with a header from six yards out, giving Albania the lead.

Still, Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia scored two goals in three minutes to turn things around in the second half.

All of a sudden, in the 95th minute, an exciting goal made sure that both teams would come away with a point.

Striker Andre Kramaric netted the equaliser in the 74th minute before an unfortunate Klaus Gjasula own goal two minutes later, following a move started by Gvardiol, completed the turnaround.

Gjasula made amends though, sliding the ball home with just seconds left on the clock to earn an historic point for his country.

Having played as a marauding left-back in Croatia’s opening defeat to Spain, Gvardiol was at the heart of the defence for this game.

That didn’t stop the 22-year-old from stepping out from the back with the ball in his hands, starting many runs with confidence, and making a total of 60 passes.

He also played great defence and bravely put his body in the way late in the game when Albania tried to tie the game.

At the same time, Kovacic kept in touch with Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Marcelo Brozovic of Al Nassr in the middle of the pitch.

The No. 8 was calm as usual, rarely getting excited when he had the ball, and able to cover a lot of ground when he didn’t have it.

After Modric, he had the second-most successful passes in the game with 89. He also made more stops than anyone else (four) and tied for the game lead with three shots.

Also, it was our player’s quick run forward that made room for Kramaric to score Croatia’s first goal.

Our player had a chance to win it with the very last play, but Albania’s Thomas Strakosha blocked his shot with his left foot.

After two games, Croatia has one point. On Monday, June 24, they will play Italy in Leipzig in the last game of Group B.