Čačić: "Punished for one mistake"

Croatia could not overcome Portuguese resistance in EURO 2016 Round of 16 and is out of the tournament following Quaresma's goal in 117th minute of Lens encounter. 

"Things did not go well at the end. We have to congratulate Portugal, though, for making it through. If there can be any satisfaction after this, we can find it in the fact that we played another good match. We had more opportunities over the 120 minutes, we controlled the ball possession, we were the dominant team… However, we made one mistake and we were punished for it in the end. It is how it is. This is why football is as popular as it is. The team going through were not the better team today, but I am sure that they will end up in the final", said Croatia head coach Ante Čačić in his post-game comments.

Croatia was trying to attack Portugal from the first minute onwards.

"We were constantly trying to attack, but they were well organized defensively and they had eight of their players waiting for the ball… Two of their fastest players, Nani and Ronaldo were waiting for an opportunity. We denied them that opportunity. We practically controlled the whole match. We had a missed opportunity just before they scored, as well as several headers. Also, another opportunity after they scored", continued Čačić.

"It is not easy in matches like this one. You saw that all the matches have been close calls, so it is not easy to dominate in a match of this calibre. These are all good teams, teams that made it to this stage of the competition, the knock-out stages. What makes me happy in the end is the fact that the team played really well for the 120 minutes, and it could have easily been us that made it through. Perhaps we deserved it more. However, what counts here are the goals and Portugal were the team that scored. They deserve to go through", he concluded.

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