Euro 2020 Round-up: Modric Rolls Back the Years as Croatia Put Scotland to the Sword, While England Top Group D

23/06/21 2536

We moved one step closer to the knockout rounds last night as Group D finished at Euro 2020, where Scotland were turned over by Croatia just as England sealed top spot in the group.

The Three Lions performed just the way their nation wanted them to in the first 20 minutes, with creativity and class flowing throughout the side.

They would eventually take the lead in the 12th minute through Raheem Sterling, who netted his second goal of the tournament.

Sterling now remains England's only goalscorer at the finals and with calls for him to be dropped for Jadon Sancho or Jack Grealish still circling, there's little justification for it now considering he's their only man to hit the back of the net.

Harry Kane also had a chance to score his first goal of Euro 2020 in the first half, however, a smart save from Tomáš Vaclík prevented the England captain from doing so.

Elsewhere, Jordan Henderson would also see some action for the first time in over three months, with the Liverpool man coming on in the second half, which means he may now start to feature much more.

In the end, it was a comfortable win for England and despite the game going quite flat after 20 minutes, they now top the group and will face the runners-up of Group F on Tuesday, June 29. This will be either France, Germany, Hungary or Portugal, depending on what happens in that group on Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday, Scotland welcomed Croatia to Hampden Park and despite a positive opening 10 minutes, Steve Clarke's men were quickly brought back down to earth as Croatia’s class shone through in abundance.

We have waited for the 2018 World Cup finalists to make their mark on the tournament, and it seems like they've finally done so after losing to England and drawing with the Czech Republic.

Zlatko Dalić's men have now finished second in Group D, forcing the Czechs into third, but they will still qualify as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Against Scotland, Luka Modric turned back the years with a typical Modric-esque performance, which was matched with a stunning strike with the outside of his boot that gave Croatia the lead in the second half.

Nikola Vlasic gave Croatia the lead, before Callum McGregor scored his first Scotland goal to equalise just before half time.

However, that goal from Modric stunned the Hampden Park faithful into silence before Ivan Perisic headed home Croatia's third of the game to hand them a 3-1 win and second place in Group D.