Croatia efficient in historic Kosovo moment

Following the successful qualifying debut at Finland, Kosovo played its first home competitive match at Loro Borici Stadium in the Albanian city of Shkoder. The noisy support of home fans did not constrain Ante Čačić's men, who put in a very good performance and confidently won all three points.

Even though the Vatreni were without the injured Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Dejan Lovren, and Marko Pjaca, it took them only six minutes to score. Mario Mandžukić opened the account, only to complete his hat-trick in the first 35 minutes, as Croatia took a 3:0 lead to half-time.

The Shkoder encounter will be long remembered by young Croatia defender Matej Mitrović, who replaced Vedran Ćorluka at the break and scored his first international goal in the first competitive appearance - second in total - for the senior national team. Ivan Perišić and Nikola Kalinić made it 6:0 in the closing ten minutes.

"From the kick-off, we have had the match under control, and scored six times to earn three valuable points on the Road to Russia. I congratulate the hosts for the fair-play and sporting attitude, while our performance was really good. People could enjoy watching Croatia, in accordance with our quality", summarized Croatia head coach Čačić.

Despite the outcome, Kosovo did not disappoint. The home team was praised by Croatia internationals, who await the same opponent in Zagreb full of respect.

"Kosovo is a much better team than this scoreline suggests. They had a couple of chances to score, and the team lacking in quality cannot create them. Croatia put in a responsible performance in a difficult visit and can be happy with everything it achieved. I have seen a very good, efficient Croatia", said Croatia goalie Danijel Subašić.

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