Croatia beats Denmark in Nations League on Mario Pasalic's lone goal

Updated: May 17, 2023, 04:56 am

An opportunist second-half goal from Mario Pasalic gave Croatia a 1-0 away win in Denmark in Nations League Group A1 on Friday as playmaker Luka Modric came off the bench to turn the game around for the visitors.

The best chance of the first half fell to Denmark's Andreas Cornelius, who had a goal ruled out just before the break when full-back Joakim Maehle was deemed to have committed a foul in the build-up.

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Following the half-time introduction of Modric, he took the corner that was worked into the box for Pasalic to pounce on for the only goal of the game, slotting the ball through the legs of keeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Danish defender Joachim Andersen was lucky to get away with a yellow card for a reckless challenge minutes later as he flew into a sliding tackle on Andrej Kramaric that could well have resulted in his dismissal.

Modric's free kick from that incident was deflected behind and from the resulting corner, again taken by Modric, Pasalic slotted the ball between Schmeichel's legs to open the scoring in the 69th minute.

Denmark, who had a Jonas Wind goal ruled out for offside in the 87th minute, still lead the group with six points from three games and will host second-placed Austria on Monday. Croatia, who are third, travel to Paris to take on bottom side France, who earned a late draw with Austria after substitute Kylian Mbappe scored in the second half.