Argentina were made to pay for another lacklustre performance against Croatia as Luka Modric bagged a stunning goal in their Group D clash on Thursday night.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side were already under plenty of pressure after being held by Iceland in their World Cup opener last week, and so they needed a positive result against Croatia to boost their hopes.
However, after failing to create enough in the first half while looking very vulnerable at the back on the counter attack, it looked as though they were at risk of falling into further trouble.
Willy Caballero gifted their opponents the opener after his blunder gave Ante Rebic the perfect opportunity to blast home a great finish to break the deadlock.
To add further misery to their night though, Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric produced this sensational strike to double Croatia’s lead and leave Argentina in real trouble in terms of their hopes of getting out of the group with Ivan Rakitic adding a third in injury time.
Sampaoli’s side will now have to beat Nigeria in their last group game at a minimum, while hoping for a favourable result in the game between Iceland and Croatia, with the former facing Nigeria first on Friday.
? @lukamodric10 ?
The goal of the tournament so far? ?#WorldCupGOT @Hyundai_Global
Highlights ? https://t.co/LOdKDX2Cwn
TV listings ? https://t.co/xliHcxWvEO pic.twitter.com/dbbLVwUrOE— FIFA World Cup ? (@FIFAWorldCup) June 21, 2018
Modric making something out of nothing…he’s ran the entire game.
What a performance from the best player on the park today pic.twitter.com/YDCnKYvaVz
— CJ (@Cjnovo992) June 21, 2018
What a way to finish off Argentina. Modric take a bow#WorldCup #ARGCRO pic.twitter.com/TIARQ8l0bK
— Smiley (@sir_smileey) June 21, 2018