Benfica striker humiliated in Nations League, loses 7-0 | OneFootball

Franjo Ivanovic had a night to forget in service of the Croatia national team. The striker loaned by Benfica to Lens started in the 7-0 defeat to England in Rijeka, a result that went down in history as the Croatian national team’s heaviest defeat in terms of goal difference.

At the end of the match, Ivanovic did not hide his disappointment with the team’s performance and admitted he could not find an explanation for such a poor display: "Honestly, we have no explanation for this defeat, a disastrous game from us," said the striker, speaking to NovaTV.

Ivanovic also acknowledged that England were clearly superior, while Croatia were unable to compete in the duels or find solutions to stop their opponent: "They played very well. We played badly, we were not in the duels, we could not get into duels at all, it was a difficult game. We suffered throughout the whole match and played very badly," he lamented.

The 22-year-old was even more forceful when recalling the impact of the result and insisted he had never seen Croatia play like this since being involved with the national team: "Since I have been with the national team, in every game I have watched, I have never seen Croatia like this. It is a really bad day for everyone and I have nothing intelligent to say. Conceding seven goals against England is impossible, it cannot happen to us," he said.

Despite the heavy setback, Ivanovic is already looking ahead to the team’s response. Croatia will have another chance to react on Tuesday against Spain, in a match from the fourth round of Group A3: "The only good thing is that we can put things right in three days against Spain. We will do our best," he assured.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.