Spain have suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Croatia in Bordeaux to play with Italy in the last 16 of Euro 2016.
The Spaniards just couldn’t have asked for a better start on Tuesday as they took the lead after just 7 minutes through Alvaro Morata.
But, the Croatians managed to level the scoring just a few seconds from half-time as Ivan Perisich delivered a wonderful cross into the Spanish box and Nikola Kalinich was on hand to send a great finish past the keeper, making it 1-all.
Ramos, however, could have put the title holders back in the lead after the break but wasted Spain’s golden opportunity in the 72nd minute by missing a penalty.
The Croatians then took control of Group D 3 minutes from time when Perisich fired the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 and hand his side the valuable victory.
Croatia will now play on Saturday in Laan, while Spain’s mouth-watering match against Italy will take place on Monday in Paris.
Elsewhere in Group D, Turkey’s 2-nil win over the Czech Republic earned them third place in the group, but that was not enough to get them into the knockout stages
Meanwhile, Germany defeated Northern Ireland 1-nil to go through to the knockout stages as Group C winners.
Joachim Löw’s men dominated possession throughout the game on Tuesday, with striker Thomas Muller twice hitting the woodwork during the opening 45 minutes.
The Germans scored the opener, which proved to be the only goal of the match, before the half-hour mark, through Mario Gomez who fired a deflected effort into the back of the net. With the win, Germany finished atop Group C, with 7 points, while Michael O’Neill’s side finished 3rd.
In the other Group C encounter, a second-half goal was enough to hand Poland a narrow 1-nil win over Ukraine and secure their progress into the next round behind Germany.
It was Ukraine who enjoyed a bigger share of possession but they fell victim to a single strike from Jakub Blaszczykowski minutes from his introduction at halftime.
It was Poland’s only second goal of the tournament which sent them into the last-16 as runners-up on goal difference. The result also saw Ukraine eliminated with no point at all.
