Malta’s first part of the Qatar World Cup qualifications finished with a cruel 3-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia.
A loss that does not do justice for Malta’s plucky display in Rijeka but at the same time, there is no shame in losing to the 2018 World Cup finalists and one of the favourites to top next summer’s Euro 2020 championship.
Croatia had to bank on the entrance of big guns Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic to break down Malta’s resilience who for an hour were holding the Croatians to a stalemate.