Consolation for Croatia! Modric & Co. win another World Cup medal with third-place victory over Morocco

• Croatia beat Morocco
• Gvardiol & Orsic on target
• Bronze medal after second-place finish in 2018

TELL ME MORE: Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 in the third-place match to confirm a consolation prize in the competition. Zlatko Dalic's side took just seven minutes to open the scoring through Josko Gvardiol. The exciting defender could not keep with Lionel Messi last time out but ensured his impressive tournament ended on a high with a diving header that made it 1-0. Yet Morocco hit back almost immediately, with Achraf Dari producing a header of his own to equalise. Croatia restored their lead just before half-time with a brilliant curling effort from Orsic that turned out to be the winner.

It may have been legendary midfielder Luka Modric's final international match, and if so, he gets to go out in positive fashion.

THE MVP: Orsic will steal all the headlines with his winning goal but Gvardiol deserves plenty of plaudits for his performance, particularly as he bounced back well from his ordeal against Messi. The defender scored a great header to get his team off to the perfect start, made countless crucial interceptions and also should have won a penalty in the second half when he ran through on goal and was caught on the ankle by Sofyan Amrabat.

THE BIG LOSER: Morocco deserve huge credit for their performance at World Cup 2022 after making history by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals. The Atlas Lions came within a whisker of taking this game to extra-time too. Youssef En Nesyri was handed a glorious chance to make it 2-2 deep into stoppage time but could only head onto the roof of the net after out-jumping Ivan Perisic.

MATCH IN THREE PHOTOS:

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Getty

WHAT NEXT? Both teams head home after impressive campaigns at the World Cup. Croatia will now switch focus to qualifying for Euro 2024, which starts in March against Wales. Morocco will return to action in just under a month when they face Sudan.

MATCH RATING (OUT OF FIVE):⭐⭐⭐