The stellar showing enjoyed by Croatia star Mateo Kovacic during his country’s latest outing on Sunday has since given rise to an altogether head-turning statistic.
Zlatko Dalic’s troops, of course, were back in action a short time ago.
After stuttering to a goalless stalemate with Morocco on World Cup opening day, the Croats on this occasion faced off with Canada, in the knowledge that a three-point haul was something of a must.
And, when all was said and done, emerge from proceedings triumphant is precisely what the Europeans went on to do.
This came owing to a dominant showing, featuring goals from all of Andrej Kramaric (2), Marko Livaja and Lovro Majer.
Croatia, in turn, have positioned themselves at the top of the Group F table, ahead of the final round of fixtures.
Goal! 🇭🇷
Andrej Kramarić has his second of the evening! Croatia are well in command. #FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/b41PRLiEAS
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 27, 2022
This honour, instead, has been reserved for midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
Chelsea star Kovacic, as expected, was afforded his latest starting berth against Canada.
And, amid a brilliant all-round display, the 28-year-old went on to make history, in joining German icon Lothar Matthaus as the only player to rack up five tackles, create four goalscoring opportunities and maintain a passing accuracy of 93% or higher in a single World Cup fixture since all the way back in 1990.
1990 – Mateo Kovačić made five tackles and created four chances against Canada, while maintaining a passing accuracy of 93%; the last player to match or surpass each stat in a single World Cup game was Lothar Matthäus for Germany against Yugoslavia in 1990 (6/5/95%). Gazelle. pic.twitter.com/c3wGDUoPgH
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 27, 2022
Croatia 4-1 Canada: Match report, player ratings, fan reaction & more
Belgium 0-2 Morocco: Match report, player ratings, fan reaction & more
