Mateo Kovacic is one of the 14 Manchester City players who were picked to represent their countries in the 2024 European Championship.
After winning his first-ever Premier League trophy at the end of his debut season at the Etihad Stadium, the midfielder, as well as Josko Gvardiol, was selected to be part of the Croatia squad for the current tournament taking place in Germany.
With Croatia now having played all three of their group games against Spain, Albania and Italy, Kovacic has started all three of them.
Last night saw Zlatko Dalic’s side draw 1-1 with Italy, with a late goal from Mattia Zaccagani putting Croatia in with a chance of being knocked out of the tournament depending on other results.
During last night’s game, one pundit couldn’t help but share his astonishment at one particular thing that happened to Kovacic, who Nedum Onuoha said back in May has been a top signing for the Blues.
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Danny Murphy baffled by what happened to Mateo Kovacic in Croatia vs Italy
Speaking on the BBC’s commentary (via BBC Sport) during the game against Italy, Murphy had this to say after Kovacic was substituted off in the 70th minute.
He said: “That is a really strange substitution. Mateo Kovacic is brilliant at keeping the ball, I find that bizarre.”
Murphy then added that if he was in charge of Croatia, Kovacic, who City paid £30m to sign from Chelsea last summer, would have been the last midfielder he’d take off.
Kovacic showed his quality before late drama
During his time on the pitch in this latest game, the 30-year-old had 46 touches of the ball in total and was able to accurately complete 32 of the 33 passes he attempted.
This gave him the joint-highest passing accuracy percentage (97%) in the Croatia starting XI, which backs up Murphy’s point about him being very capable of keeping hold of the ball and moving it around the pitch efficiently.
Kovacic also made three tackles and three interceptions before being taken off by Dalic, which shows that not only is he very effective on the ball but also useful in winning it back for his side.
Taking all of that on board, we find it easy to see why Murphy was so surprised that the City star was taken off in last night’s game, especially considering the way it ended.