Tottenham star Ivan Perisic was in action today as Croatia faced Morocco in the World Cup third place playoff.
Danny Murphy – who made 29 appearances for Spurs – was on commentary duty for BBC Sport as Croatia recorded a 2-1 win, although he felt the Tottenham No.14 would have been left annoyed by one decision.
What’s the story?
Well, the £180,000-a-week Tottenham man is just one goal away from becoming Croatia’s all-time top goalscorer at the World Cup.
Perisic is currently level with the legendary Davor Suker on six World Cup goals, and had the chance to break the record in today’s third place playoff against Morocco.
However, the 33-year-old, who may be too old to appear at the next World Cup in 2026, was put at left-back by Zlatko Dalic, which obviously hindered his chances of getting close to goal.
When discussing that decision on commentary duty for BBC Sport, Murphy said: “He’ll have walked into the dressing room and thought, come on, why am I playing left-back?”
Perisic is a true professional, and we highly doubt he would ever say those words to Dalic out loud – however, as Murphy states, he was surely thinking it after seeing his chances of smashing the record impacted.
The versatile Croatian did, however, manage to grab an assist for Josko Gvardiol to put Croatia 1-0 up inside seven minutes, following a brilliantly worked set-piece routine.
Achraf Dari equalised for Morocco almost immediately, before a stunning strike from Mislav Orsic secured bronze for Croatia.
Perisic did Tottenham proud
While Spurs fans will have surely felt doubly hurt after one of their own in Harry Kane missed a vital penalty for England, some will feel slightly better at seeing Perisic enjoy a successful World Cup.
After helping Croatia to second place at the 2018 World Cup, Perisic now has a bronze World Cup medal to add to his collection, which – while some will argue is not gold – remains a remarkable achievement for a Croatian.
Hopefully, it means Perisic returns to north London in good spirits, and can help fire Tottenham to a piece of silverware this season.
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