Preparing for Euro 2024 | Portugal loses at home to strong Croatia in a friendly match (2-1)

Portugal still has a lot to do. The Lusitanian national team lost at home on Saturday to Croatia in a preparation match for the Euro (1-2). Roberto Martinez's side were fragile in defense and inaccurate in attack, logically succumbing to the more composed Vatrini who looked ready before traveling to Germany. Luka Modric opened the scoring (8) from a penalty kick, and Diogo Jota responded after the start of the second half (48), but Ante Budimir quickly restored the lead to the visitors (56).

If the Portuguese beat the Finns last Tuesday (4-2), they also showed serious defensive flaws by failing only two shots to their opponent. These shortcomings were quickly confirmed against the Croats on the outskirts of Lisbon. Despite controlling the ball at the beginning of the match, the Seleção awarded a penalty kick due to a foul by Parisian Vitinha on Mateo Kovacic in the visitors' first attack. The experienced Modric converted that to score his 25th goal in 175 international matches (0-1, 8).

The tone is set with the innocent locals facing off against the very dangerous Croats in transition. Modric was still able to try his luck (11th minute), Lovro Maier passed the ball to Diogo Costa (13th minute), and a troubled Jusco Gvardiol lit up the Portuguese's penalty area (34th minute) before heading just over the goal into the corner (35th minute). Ante Budimir missed the goal from a distance of six meters after the Lusitanian goalkeeper saved Andrej Kramaric (42).

Portugal performed very well and only trailed by one goal at the end of the first half. The four changes made by his coach upon resumption paid off immediately with the equalizer from six meters away from the oncoming Jota after a perfect pass from Nelson Semedo, who also came on the bench (1-1, 48).

Joao Cancelo and Rafael Leao were also available and made an impact on the left flank. However, the Portuguese defense cracked again after Mario Pasalic's shot from 20 meters hit the crossbar and Budimir followed it up with a header (1-2, minute 56). What is collectively more convincing is that Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and the others pushed but Dominik Livakovic and his defense resisted.

Luka Sučić could have created the break for the Croats who were technically comfortable and strong on the counter-attack but he faced Diogo Costa (82nd minute). Goalkeeper Vatrini had the final say against Matheus Nunes and Ruben Dias (90+2), while Cristiano Ronaldo remained on the bench. CR7 is scheduled to return to the field next Tuesday against Ireland for the final Test. Zlatko Dalic's Croatia achieved its first win over Portugal and looks set to challenge Spain in a week's time in the European Championship.