Croatia vs. Wales: previous encounters

First

The national football teams of Croatia and Wales faced each other for the first time in August 2002 in Varaždin, in a friendly international that ended in a draw. Simon Davies scored the first goal of the game after approximately ten minutes, while ten minutes from time Mladen Petrić found the equalizer for the hosts (1:1). That was his first Croatia goal, in Otto Barić's debut as Croatia head coach.

Memorable

On the road towards the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Vatreni had to deal with a demanding qualifying group, including two matches with Wales. Igor Štimac's men visited Swansea in March 2013, when the national hero Gareth Bale opened the scoring from the spot, in the first half. However, Dejan Lovren started Croatia's comeback on 77 minutes, and Eduardo completed the story on 87 minutes (2:1), to provide very valuable three points.

Recent

In the penultimate round of the EURO 2020 qualifying Group E, Zlatko Dalić's Croatia travelled to Cardiff and took the early lead, courtesy of Nikola Vlašić. The unavoidable Gareth Bale levelled the score just before the break. This contentious 1:1 draw later allowed the Vatreni to secure the final tournament berth at home versus Slovakia.

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