Kramaric on spot as Croatia hold France, Denmark down Austria after power cut

A reshuffled France drew 1-1 away to Croatia in their second Nations League game on Monday, four days after an opening defeat by Denmark.

The defending champions went ahead through Adrien Rabiot’s goal early in the second half but Andrej Kramaric’s late penalty, awarded after the forward was brought down by fellow substitute Jonathan Clauss, gave the hosts a deserved draw.

World champions France, who slumped to a 2-1 home loss to Denmark in their opening match, were without Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema at the start as coach Didier Deschamps made 10 changes to Friday’s team.

“We did good things considering all the changes. We were ahead and could have scored more but it’s a pity we gifted them the equaliser,” said Deschamps, who was back on the bench after missing Friday’s game against Denmark following the death of his father.

“It was however a coherent performance,” the France head coach added. “They barely threatened in the second half. The result is not satisfying and even if it’s a competitive game our goal is to prepare for [the World Cup at] the end of the year.”

Croatia were the most dangerous in a lively start before Christopher Nkunku was denied a goal for offside as France began to threaten on the break around the half-hour mark. Les Bleus piled the pressure on Croatia’s left flank and Moussa Diaby came close before the break just before Aurélien Tchouaméni’s fierce strike was parried away by Dominik Livakovic.

France were rewarded for their attacking intent in the 52nd minute when Rabiot collected a through ball from Wissam Ben Yedder and found the back of the net with a low shot for his second international goal.

But in the 83rd minute the defender Jonathan Clauss, on as a substitute for Diaby, brought Kramaric down in the area just seconds after coming on. After a VAR check overruled an offside call on the field, the striker converted the resulting penalty by wrongfooting Mike Maignan in the 83rd minute.

Kramaric threatened again five minutes from time but Maignan pulled off a decisive save at his near post to salvage a point – the first for both sides in Group A1.

Denmark top the group with six points after Jens Stryger Larsen’s late winner earned a 2-1 win over Austria in a game delayed by 90 minutes due to a power cut in Vienna.

The game eventually kicked off at 10.15pm local time after power was restored, but not before the fans at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion entertained themselves with a Mexican wave using the lights on their mobile phones.

Denmark took the lead in the 27th minute through Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. The Tottenham midfielder started the move with a pass out to the right flank, and then sprinted into the box to get on the receiving end of Rasmus Kristensen’s cross.

Austria, who beat Croatia 3-0 in Ralf Rangnick’s first match in charge, dominated after the interval and their persistence with the high press eventually paid off with 67 minutes played. The hosts nicked the ball off keeper Kasper Schmeichel in the Denmark box before Xaver Schlager fired home the equaliser.

Marko Arnautovic, playing his 100th game for Austria, then hit the post after rounding Schmeichel and Denmark made him pay for the miss in the 84th minute. Larsen curled a shot past keeper Patrick Pentz to grab the winner, scored on the stroke of midnight.

France next travel to Austria on Friday before hosting Croatia next Monday. Denmark will look to maintain their perfect start in home games against Croatia and Austria, on the same days.

In the second-tier League B, Iceland drew for a second time in Group B2 as they were held 1-1 by Albania in Reykjavik. Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson scored the equaliser for the hosts four minutes into the second half after Taulant Seferi put Albania ahead on the half-hour mark.

Kazakhstan moved top of Group C3 with a 1-0 win over Slovakia in Trnava, Aslan Darabayev scoring the only goal after 26 minutes. The other match in the group between Belarus and Azerbaijan ended in a goalless draw.

Arturs Zjuzins’ 73rd-minute goal took Latvia to the top of Group D1 as they beat Liechtenstein 1-0 while Andorra and 10-man Moldova drew 0-0.