Croatia 0-7 England: Kane and Saka hit doubles in Rijeka rout
Croatia 0-7 England: Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka scored twice each as Thomas Tuchel's side ran riot in Rijeka to go level with Spain in Nations League Group A3.
Croatia 0-7 England was the night Thomas Tuchel’s side tore up the form book in Rijeka, with Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka scoring twice each in a Nations League rout.
Main photo: Драган Јањушевић / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
England were four up by half-time and never eased off. Jude Bellingham scored once and set up three more, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers also struck, and Croatia managed a single shot on target all evening.
It is the biggest win of Tuchel’s reign and, according to Sky Sports, the heaviest defeat Croatia have ever suffered.
Croatia 0-7 England: how the goals came
Kane opened the scoring on eight minutes from Bellingham’s pass. Bellingham then got one of his own on 21 minutes, finishing a move started by Gordon, before Gordon turned scorer on 39 minutes after Jarell Quansah picked him out.
Saka made it four right on the stroke of half-time, again from a Bellingham assist. Croatia made three changes at the break, but it changed nothing.
Kane added his second eight minutes after the restart, teed up by Elliot Anderson, and then turned provider for Saka’s second on 68 minutes. Substitute Rogers, on for Kane, completed the scoring three minutes from time, with Bellingham collecting his third assist. Mateo Kovačić was the only player booked.
The tone had been set before kick-off: our Croatia v England preview flagged Rijeka as a test of whether England could bounce back after defeat to Spain. They answered emphatically.
Key stats
| Stat | Croatia | England |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 0 | 7 |
| Possession | 36% | 64% |
| Shots | 12 | 19 |
| Shots on target | 1 | 10 |
| Passes | 423 | 746 |
| Corners | 1 | 6 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 0 |
Kane was the standout performer in the match ratings with 9.76, ahead of Bellingham (9.25), Saka (9.06) and Gordon (9.0).
Tuchel: “A complete performance”
Tuchel praised his players for staying humble and getting the basics right, calling it “a 90-minute performance at the highest level from everyone”. He said England kept the tempo high, found the gaps and were ruthless in front of goal.
Saka’s double will please Arsenal too. Our sister site DGBN has covered Saka’s match-winning display for Arsenal at Aston Villa earlier this season.
What it means for Group A3
England move level on six points with leaders Spain, who have a game in hand after Spain’s 3-1 win over Czechia later on Saturday. Croatia stay on three points and now have a goal difference of minus nine.
England host Czechia on Tuesday at 7.45pm UK time, before a trip to Spain in November that could decide the group. That fixture already has history this campaign: Tuchel named his 23-man England squad for the first Spain showdown last month.
