Tottenham's Ivan Perisic showed a touch of class immediately after his Croatia side progressed to the World Cup quarter finals with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Japan. The 33-year-old scored the equalising goal for his team having gone 1-0 behind but still relied on extra-time and penalties to bypass their opponents.
Perisic is part of a star-studded Croatian team including Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic and Real Madrid's seasoned veteran Luka Modric. His goal adds to two assists already for the tournament but Russia 2018's beaten finalists had to rely on Dominik Livakovic in goal to progress.
The Dinamo Zagreb shot-stopper saved both of Japan's first two penalties before stopping a third later on to edge past their opponents. Perisic was quick to show his support for the Samurai Blue though, remaining out of the initial celebrations for his own side to go and console the losing team.
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Perisic was part of the Croatia team that were beaten 4-1 by France in Russia and knows the feeling of losing on the biggest stage but remained classy despite the emotions following the win.
The versatile midfielder was substituted off at half-time in extra-time despite his goal and watched on from the bench along with Modric before moving on to spend time with the dejected Japanese men first. Included in that group was Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu. The full-back played the entirety of the match but didn't take a spot-kick.
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