Spain lose to Croatia and head into the last 16 as group runners-up

Spain headed into the game against Croatia looking to secure the top spot in UEFA EURO 2016's Group D, but they failed to make good on their mission.

The game kicked off without either side clearly dominating over the other, but it was Vicente del Bosque's men who had the edge. Their passing moves, led by David Silva, caused a threat on Danijel Subasic's goal, and Spain opened the scoring through one of them. The Canary Islander perfectly picked out Cesc Fabregas's run between the lines and he clipped the ball exquisitely over the Croatian keeper. Alvaro Morata tapped in from close range to make it 1-0 and put himself on a total of three goals in the competition.

Croatia equalised through Nikola Kalinic before the break. The striker concluded a great move started by Ivan Perisic, with Ivan Rakitic heading the ball on for Kalinic to finish with his heel. The game was level at 1-1 and did not liven up again until Silva went down in the area and Sergio Ramos stepped up to take the spot-kick. Subasic went the right way and kept out the Sevillian centre-back's penalty. With the game being played at a sluggish pace and lacking the usual intensity, Perisic got Croatia's winner by rounding off a counter-attack with a sublime finish late on in the game.

The result means that Rakitic, Modric and Cop's Croatia go through to the last 16 as the winners of Group D, whilst Spain head into the next round as the runners-up. They will face Group E winners Italy at the Stade de France in Paris on Monday 27 June, kickoff at 18:00 CET.