Croatia vs Albania thriller helped create unique piece of Euros AND World Cup history that may never be matched

The 2-2 thriller between Croatia and Albania helped to create a unique piece of football history that has never been achieved at a European Championship or World Cup.

Albania, who had won one Euros game in their history before the fixture, went 1-0 up in the first half through Sparta Prague midfielder Qazim Laci.

Croatia equalised on 66 minutes through Andrej Kramaric, before an own goal from Albania substitute Klaus Gjasula two minutes later made it 2-1.

That, it turned out, was to be far from Gjasula's last contribution in the fixture.

The 34-year-old, who plays his club football in Germany for Darmstadt, equalised with a picture-perfect left-footed finish into the bottom left corner on 92 minutes.

There was still time for the midfielder to do his bit defensively, as he hauled down a Croatia attacker in a desperate attempt to stop them from creating one final chance. Gjasula was subsequently booked.

And as per OptaJoe, Gjasula's trio of contributions means he has set a European Championship and World Cup record that may never be matched.

He is the first substitute in the history of both competitions to come off the bench and score a goal and an own goal in the same match. By default, therefore, he is also the first player to record both of those feats and collect a yellow card.

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The 2-2 draw means both sides have one point to their name in Group B, with Albania losing 2-1 to Italy and Croatia falling 3-0 to Spain on matchday one.

Albania are currently third on goal difference, and face Spain in their final group game as they attempt to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

Croatia, meanwhile, will hope to avoid the ignominy of being knocked out in the group stage after finishing as runners-up at the 2018 World Cup, in third place in 2022, and as runners-up in the 2023 Nations League.

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