On a muggy Sunday night on the banks of the Volga, Ivan Rakitic has slotted his way into the annals of Croatian football history; his calm penalty finish putting his nation through to a World Cup quarter-final after an arduous shootout with Denmark.
The opening passages of the game had promised so much for the prospects of excitement in the rest of it after two goals were scrambled home in the first couple of minutes.
The first went Denmark’s way when, just seconds after they got the game underway, they were awarded a throw-in on the right-hand side of the field, deep into the Croatian half.
Jonas Knudsen, of Ipswich Town fame, launched it into the proverbial mixer and chaos ensued. It was bundled to the foot of Nicolai Jørgensen, who finished to put pre-match favourites Croatia back on their heels.
They wouldn’t be long springing off them, mind.
A literal matter of seconds later they sauntered upfield and got a routine cross into the Danish area. They made a real hames of clearing it, with the ball being handed to Mario Mandžukić - via the face of Andreas Christensen - who swept home.
That frantic opening act was followed by a fairly uneventful first half, with Modric orchestrating Croatian control over Denmark but with either side struggling to create clear chances for all their graft.
The close, humid conditions that the game was played at must, you feel, have had something to do with the slow pace of the game and there were tired legs revealing themselves more and more as the clock wound down.
The wily old Denmark boss Åge Hareide had watched his side being controlled by the technically proficient Balkan outfit’s midfield and brought on the Ajax schemer Lasse Schöne to give his side its own hopes of inventing something.
It seemed to work an the Danes grew into the game as the second half wore on, eventually looking the more likely of the two find a breakthrough as the Croats looked somewhat leggy, somewhat lacking in ideas and their greatest goal threat, Mandzukic, became isolated up front.
In the end, 90 minutes couldn’t split them, and a second World Cup last-16 tie went into extra time.
It would be deep into the extra period before a chance of note would be created.
Luca Modric, whose creative forces the Danes had managed to keep at bay for so long, found a defence-splitting pass to allow Ante Rebić away on the counter.
He was hauled down and Luka Modric looked Kasper Schmeichel in the eye. The Leicester City stopped pulled off a superb feint-and-dive and ensured we’d have penalties in Nizhny Novgorod.
He’d go on to save two penalties in that showdown but, cruelly, was robbed of the role of hero as his counterpart in the Croatian goal, Danijel Subašić, kept three out.
