After the victory over the Netherlands national team, Croatia can prepare for the final of the Nations League. It is an achievement that coach Zlatko Dalic and player Mario Pasalic consider a great success.
"It's phenomenal," said Pasalic, responsible for the 1-2 at De Kuip, to UEFA.com. "Another historic success for us. We were already proud of reaching the Final Four. That's a great achievement, but we wanted more, and we succeeded. This is now behind us, and we're looking forward to the final. Now, of course, we want that gold."
The Atalanta Bergamo forward mentioned that he was a bit shocked by Noa Lang's late equalizer in regular time. "There was a bit of panic when we conceded that goal, making it 2-2 in the final seconds. It wasn't easy to recover from that. But once again, we showed our incredible mental strength and resilience and came out even stronger."
Dalic "Congratulations to my boys," added coach Dalic during the press conference. "This is a victory for the Croatian people. Beating the Netherlands 4-2 on their own turf is a great success. We have another medal, which is surreal but well-deserved."
Dalic praised the Croatian triumph in Rotterdam. "This is one of Croatia's greatest successes. Defeating the Netherlands in their own stadium, conceding the opening goal in the first half, and then conceding another in the 96th minute. This victory is absolutely historic."
Thursday evening will reveal who the Croatian's opponent will be in the final: Spain or Italy. "I have no preference. First, we will celebrate and then rest. It doesn't matter who comes next, only Croatia is important. We are going for gold. That's the only thing we're missing: we have silver, we have bronze. Now we will achieve that missing gold."
