Croatia makes a good foray forward. Raktic gets to the corner flag and plays in the left back, Strinic, who is unable to put in a cross thanks to an alert Pavard. First clear chance!! Ivan Perisic is sent clear down the left wing. But his eventual cross is poor and is cleared by Samuel Umtiti. A cagey start to the final so far.
France take the lead!! Antoine Griezmann with a freekick and Mario Madzukic scores an own-goal! Griezmann is fouled outside the area and he chips a cross in.
Varane attacks the ball but Mandzukic gets a telling touch on it. Unfortunately for him, the ball went into the far corner. That opens the game up. Croatia has to find a goal.
Perisic! We have a final on our hands folks! It’s that man Ivan Perisic again. He scored the equaliser in the semifinal and now he has done so in the final. A cross was kept alive in the box and France paid the price for not clearing it. The ball fell to Perisic on the edge of the area. His first touch took him past Kante into the area and the second touch with his left-foot sent a rasping half-volley into the far corner.
VAR comes into play in the final! France gets a corner and it is whipped in at the near post. It strikes the hand of Ivan Perisic and the referee, after taking a look at the TV, awards France a PENALTY! Perisic goes from hero to villain in the space of minutes. DRAMA
NERVES OF STEEL! Griezmann rolls the penalty past Subasic with consummate ease to restore France’s lead. The Les Blues have never lost a game in which Griezmann has scored. Perisic is left fuming at himself but that was a huge call from the referee!
France leads: The interval is upon us and France lead courtesy of a Mario Mandzukic own goal that came from a free-kick that probably shouldn’t have been awarded and a penalty that almost certainly should not have been awarded. Ivan Perisic, who has been outstanding for Croatia, has scored the goal of the game to keep his team in contention. So much for VAR putting an end to the game-changing controversy.
Source: News365coza
