Luka Modric admits Scotland were a 'tough nut to crack' as eternal Croatia skipper shines in Nations League triumph

The Croats fought back from a goal down to keep their hopes of progressing to the Nations League semi-finals alive

Luka Modric has credited Scotland for their display in the 2-1 defeat to Croatia and has admitted his relief at the VAR call that denied Steve Clarke's men a last-gasp point.

The hosts had fallen behind to a Ryan Christie goal but quickly got back on level terms thanks to Igor Matanovic's fine finish. While Scotland remained competitive, Real Madrid icon Modric and co stepped up the gears in the second half and bagged what turned out to the winner 20 minutes from time courtesy of Andrej Kramaric's header.

Dark Blues sub Che Adams thought he had forced home an equaliser right at the death after his effort was deflected into the Croatia net only for VAR to correctly rule out the goal for offside. Zlatko Dalic's men have now moved to within three points of Group A leaders Portugal and Modric, 39 - who won cap number 181 against the Scots - is confident they can take momentum into Tuesday's clash with Poland in Warsaw.

He said: "Tough match, the Scots have shown again that they are a tough nut to crack, that we play hard against them. I think we entered the game well, then we kind of slowed down until the end of the half, but, thank God, we quickly equalized.

"The second half was quite good, but we pulled away in the last 10 minutes and then we allowed the Scots to create some chances for us, and there was a lot of confusion especially in the last half. Thank God, VAR was on our side. There were a lot of good things, but also a lot of bad things that need to be improved. All in all, three points are the most important.

"We don't need to go that far, but let's go to Poland to play a real game and try to win, solve it now, which would be phenomenal. It will be difficult regardless of the fact that we were much better than them in Osijek, but now they are playing at home."

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