Hakim Ziyech and Mateo Kovacic found themselves head-to-head for a second time at the World Cup as Croatia and Morocco were left to finish off the formalities before the final on Sunday. The pair were also drawn together in the group stages with Belgium and Canada being the other two sides in Group F.
As it played out, Morocco went on an improbable but historic run to the semi-finals after qualifying from their group in second place. They went on to beat Spain and Portugal in the underdog story of the tournament before being outclassed by a clinical France team on the way to back-to-back finals.
As for Croatia, they were trying to get to consecutive final appearances themselves but couldn't bypass the brilliance of Lionel Messi in Qatar and were dumped out in the last four at the hands of Argentina. They did their own fair share of headline making though, first beating Japan on penalties before knocking out favourites Brazil on spot-kicks.
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In one of the least likely third place play-off matches, Croatia and Morocco played out an entertaining and fiery 2-1 win for the 2018 runners-up in which Chelsea fans will have had keen eyes on the game. Ziyech, who has been extremely impressive for his country despite struggling at club level for some time, was awarded the captain's armband for Walid Regragui's men, whilst Kovacic was once again in one of the best controlling midfields in Qatar alongside Luka Modric.
Blues target Josko Gvardiol was also in action and he grabbed the game's opening goal with a diving header before Ziyech's free-kick soon drew the north African side level, only for Mislav Orsic to put Croatia ahead once more.
With no players in the final from Chelsea's original 12 in Qatar there is pride to be taken from their two stars getting this far in the tournament, and a pre-match meeting between the pair was seen as they went out to warm up. Ziyech slung his arm over his teammates neck and gave him a hug before walking across the pitch together.
Kovacic admitted before the game that he had been teased by his domestic teammates heading into the tournament, and said: "The other [Chelsea] players expected me and Ziyech to come home first but I am proud we are still here."
At full time it was Ziyech's angry men that were remonstrating with the referees after a competitive final 20 minutes boiled over. The Croatian then went over to console his mate after full time with Ziyech on his haunches in disappointment.
Kovacic could have put the game to bet before that though, sending his left-footed effort wide despite being in a promising position to score, a tale too familiar to Chelsea fans.
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