Olympiad

Olympiad

Mandzukic Strike Gives Croatia and Italy 1-1 Draw

14 June 2012 20:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Mario Mandzukic equalizer 18 minutes from time gave Croatia a 1-1 draw against Italy in their Euro 2012 group stage game Thursday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

With four points from two games, Croatia have a strong chance of reaching the quarterfinals, while Italy must beat Ireland on Monday to avoid an embarrassing early exit.

Italy missed several chances in the early stages before Andrea Pirlo put his team ahead six minutes before the break with a curling free-kick.

Mario Mandzukic equalized on 72 minutes with his third goal of the tournament, lashing the ball into the from Ivan Strinicâ€™s cross.

Mandzukic was stretchered off with an ankle injury in stoppage time, and may be an injury doubt for Croatiaâ€™s final game against Spain.

Spain play Ireland in the second game Thursday.