The Croatian national team suffered its heaviest defeat in history, losing 7-0 to England in the third round of the League of Nations at the Rujevica stadium in Rijeka. Thomas Tuchel's side dominated the match from start to finish, with Croatian fans displaying a banner reading 'It's not coming home'.
England secured the victory with two goals from Harry Kane and two from Bukayo Saka, while Anthony Gordon, Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers each scored. Croatia had never previously lost a match by a seven-goal margin, breaking the previous record of a 0-6 defeat to Spain in September 2018.
Slaven Biljić, who returned to the post of coach after 14 years, stated that this was the heaviest defeat and expressed regret for the fans and children who had attended the match. 'We did not expect this to happen. We could not match England in aggression, technique or physicality,' said Biljić. He added that they had treated the League of Nations as a kind of test, but the responsibility was his. 'To concede 12 goals in three matches is unacceptable. I do not believe England would beat Estonia 7-0,' the coach stated, referring to the upcoming match against Spain.
Franjo Ivanović was also critical of the performance. 'Since I have been with the national team, we have never looked this bad. I have no explanation for why we played like this. This was our worst performance. It is impossible to concede seven goals to England,' said Ivanović, noting that Spain was coming up next.
