PATRICK SCHICK proved himself as deadly from 12 yards as he is from 50 to leave Croatia sweating on survival.
The Czech pin-up is now leading the race for the tournament’s Golden Boot after scoring his third goal in the space of five days.
⚽ Follow ALL of the latest news and updates from Euro 2020 with our live blog
6
6 6
And even having his chiseled good looks ruined by Dejan Lovren’s flying elbow wasn’t going to stop him from firing his country to the brink of the next round.
Schick became the talk of the Euros when he beat Scotland keeper David Marshall from the halfway line during Monday’s Group D opener at Hampden.
And there is clearly something about the Glasgow air which agrees with Bayer Leverkusen’s new signing from Roma.
Former Liverpool defender Lovren furiously protested his innocence over the 34th minute coming together as they challenged for Jakub Jankto’s cross.
But the fact that Schick’s hooter was splattered across his face was pretty conclusive evidence that contact had been made.
And that was enough to persuade Spanish ref Carlos del Cerro Grande to go and check the pitchside monitor before pointing to the spot.
Lovren was unsurprisingly stunned by the decision as he had kept his eyes on the ball at all times and only raised his arm to give himself leverage.
Yet all the Croatian protests could not unsettle Schick, who merely paused to wipe the claret from his face before sending Dominik Livakovic the wrong way from the spot.
Coach Jaroslav Silhavy admitted: “Usually we don’t let the injured player take the penalty but this was the exception to the rule.
“Patrik was very determined and his team-mates were shouting to the kit man to get him a clean shirt because they wanted him to take the penalty and I just believed in him.”
That goal was no more than the Czechs deserved for their overwhelming first-half dominance, although Ante Rebic squandered a glorious opportunity to level within two minutes of Schick’s penalty.
It was to be the Milan’s striker’s last contribution before being hauled off by coach Zlatko Dalic in a double substitution at half-time.
And the switch paid instant dividends for the 2018 World Cup finalists when Andrej Kramaric’s quick free-kick allowed Ivan Perisic to cut inside Vladimir Coufal and smash home within two minutes of the restart.
Everton cast-off Nikola Vlasic missed a decent opportunity to nick it for Croatia and Adam Hlozek volleyed over when he had a chance to make certain of the Czechs’ place in the second round.
6
6
Yes. How was that a foul? No intent there, Lovren didn’t even look at Schick. Then Schick jumped in from behind to then recieve the contact. pic.twitter.com/HQj2tkmtHi
— Has the Referee or VAR made a poor decision? (@PoorEPLreferees) June 18, 2021
6
The result means that Croatia must now win their final group game against Scotland to stand any chance of progressing to the knock-out stages while the Czechs could need something from Tuesday’s trip to Wembley to be certain of their place in the last 16.
Frustrated Croatian captain Luka Modric admitted: “There is a bitter taste after this match because we didn’t get the win we needed.
“We started the match really disorganised and though we were better in the second-half we could only score one goal and now we have to beat Scotland to go through.”
Silhavy added: “We are very happy with this result because four points is usually enough to qualify.
“Nothing is certain yet but the maths is on our side and maybe if we’d been more courageous in front of goal we could be on six points already.”
⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
