<p>Josko Gvardiol continued his scoring streak to earn Croatia a 1-1 home draw with <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/football/article/rons-brace-portugal-ace-23430531" target="_blank" rel="none noopener"><strong>Portugal</strong></a> on Monday that allowed them to squeak into the Nations League quarter-finals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Portugal had already sealed top spot in Group A1. The draw allowed Croatia to finish one point above Scotland who continued their late surge with a 2-1 win over Poland in Warsaw.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Spain beat Switzerland 3-2</h2>
<p>In Group A4, Spain, already assured of qualification, beat last-placed Switzerland 3-2 in a match of penalty kicks in Tenerife. Yeremi Pino, a Canary Islander, sent Spain ahead on home territory after 32 minutes after Pedri&rsquo;s penalty was saved. Joel Monteiro levelled for Switzerland but a few minutes later Bryan Gil stole the ball back to restore Spain&rsquo;s lead. Andi Zeqiri fired home from the spot after a foul by Fabian Ruiz in the 85th minute but Bryan Zaragoza won and converted a late penalty ensured Spain could finish a spectacular year on a high.</p>
<p>Denmark secured second place in the group with a 0-0 draw in Serbia.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/football/article/ronaldo-scores-133rd-goal-for-portugal-in-3-1-win-over-poland-23410483" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Ronaldo scores 133rd goal for Portugal in 3-1 win over Poland</a></strong></p>
<p>In Split, Portugal took a 33rd-minute lead when Joao Felix neatly finished a sharp counterattack. Rafael Leao then missed the target when clean through. With Scotland winning in Warsaw after a third-minute goal from John McGinn, set up by teenager Ben Doak, Croatia were heading out.&nbsp;<br />Gvardiol, ghosting at the far post, had a header on 62 minutes disallowed for offside. He repeated the move three minutes later, sneaking in unmarked and onside to squeeze a close-range shot through Jose Sa.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Gvardiol, a defender, has three goals in his last six Premier League games for Manchester City. &ldquo;It felt like two different games for us,&rdquo; said Gvardiol.&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;In the first half, we seemed a bit tired and needed to make changes. The second half was much better &mdash; we had more energy, better control of the ball, and created more chances and we managed to score a goal,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Poland&rsquo;s Piatkowski scores</h2>
<p>Almost simultaneously in Warsaw, Kamil Piatkowski rocketed a cross shot into the top far corner of the Scottish goal to level for Poland. In the 73rd minute in Split, left-back Nuno Mendes nearly emulated Gvardiol for Portugal but goalie Dominik Livakovic blocked. In Warsaw, Andy Robertson headed home in added time to give Scotland a second win in four days, but Croatia comfortably saw out the draw.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</em></span></p><p>
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After scoring equaliser in draw v Portugal to enter quarters, Croatia’s Gvardiol attributes result to higher energy, better control, more chances in latter part

‘Much better second half’

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‘Much better second half’

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