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Croatia dismantle San Marino 10-0 in last Euro2016 warmup

Xinhua, June 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Mario Mandzukic and Nikola Kalinic scored their first international hat-tricks and captain Darijo Srna had four assists in a Croatian record breaking 10-0 win against San Marino in a friendly ahead of the Euro 2016 on Saturday at Rujevica Stadium in Rijeka, the largest Croatian port at the Adriatic coast.

San Marino, 200th in FIFA rankings, held off the Croatian attacks until 21-year old Dinamo Zagreb forward Marko Pjaca deflected a shot from Real Madrid star Luka Modric and scored his first international goal for Croatia in the 20th minute.

In the next five minutes, Mandzukic and captain Darijo Srna were on target to triple Croatian lead.

In a span of two minutes, from 36th to 38th, Juventus striker Mandzukic completed his first international hat trick, both times scoring on low crosses from Srna. Two minutes later it was Ivan Perisic who took and converted a free kick from 20 meters for the Croatian national team record of six goals scored in one half.

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic needed five minutes of play in the second half to equal the best Croatian scoring performance of 7-0 and it was obvious that San Marino's modest team will not be able to sustain the pressure from Ante Cacic's men.

Fiorentina striker Kalinic, who was a second half substitute, scored his first international hat trick from 59th to 84th minute for a record breaking performance of Croatian national team.

The Croatian players shot 18 times on target and 10 of those ended up in the net. On the other hand, Croatian defenders didn't allow San Marino amateurs any shot on goal.

"It was a good decision to have this kind of opponent because we had a full squad in a training camp only for a few days. We will have enough tough battles in France," Croatian manager Cacic said after San Marino match.

The record scoring performance put the Croatian team in a good mood and Cacic was satisfied with the approach and the mentality of his players but he is aware that this would mean nothing if Croatia could not make a successful start at 2016 European soccer championship against Turkey on June 12 in Paris.

CROATIA - SAN MARINO 10-0 (6-0)

Scorers: 1-0 Pjaca (20), 2-0 Mandzukic (23), 3-0 Srna (25), 4-0 Mandzukic (36), 5-0 Mandzukic (38), 6-0 Perisic (40), 7-0 Rakitic (50), 8-0 N. Kalinic (59), 9-0 N. Kalinic (73), 10-0 N. Kalinic (84)

CROATIA (1st half): Subasic - Srna, Vida, Schildenfeld, Strinic - Badelj, Modric - Perisic, Pjaca - Rakitic - Mandzukic

CROATIA (2nd half): Subasic - Srna (55. Vrsaljko), Vida, Schildenfeld, Strinic - Badelj (75. Rog), Kovacic - Perisic, Pjaca (75. Coric) - Rakitic (55. Kramaric) - Mandzukic (55. N. Kalinic)

Substitutes not used: Vargic (GK), L. Kalinic (GK), Corluka, Jedvaj, Brozovic, Cop. Endit