Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic continues to impress in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with a great performance against Brazil in the quarterfinal. In the second half, he made crucial saves, stopping Neymar in his tracks in the 55th minute in what looked like a certain goal by the Paris Saint-Germain forward.
He has, so far, made nine saves against Brazil, forcing the match into extra time and then into penalties as the five-time World Champion was finally finally eliminated in penalties.
In the penalty shootout, he started with a save off Rodrygo as the keeper saved on his left to make the save. That became the decisive save as Marquinhos’ shot off the post, in the fourth spot-kick, while all of Croatia’s penalties got into the net.
With the save, he became one of the only three men and the second Croatian to have saved four shootout penalties in a single World Cup tournament, after Argentina Sergio (1990), Danijel Subasic (2018) and Dominik Livakovic (2022).
Earlier in the tournament, Livakovic starred in the team’s penalty shootout with three saves in the win over Japan at the FIFA World Cup at the Aljanoub Stadium on Monday.
Livakovic saved penalties of Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino and Maya Yoshida in the shootout.
In the process, Livakovic became only the third ‘keeper to save three penalties in a shootout at the World Cup after compatriot Danijel Subašić (vs Denmark 2018) and Portugal’s Ricardo (vs England 2006).
He was named the player of the match for his efforts.
The 27-year-old was part of the 2018 Croatia World Cup squad which finished as runner-up but didn’t play a single minute. Livakovic made his senior debut in 2018 in the UEFA Nations League against England and has 38 caps to his name.
Livakovic, who stands at 6’2”, plays for Croatian first divison club Dinamo Zagreb since 2015.
Coming into this match, Livakovic had saved 14 penalties in his career, one of them coming against Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Europa League in 2020.
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