Klaus Gjasula strikes late after own goal to snatch Albania draw with Croatia

When Klaus Gjasula came off the bench after 72 minutes for Qazim Laci, the player who had put Albania ahead, what was he expecting? To sit at the back of midfield, to be a damp blanket stifling the game, to preserve the Albanian lead? Maybe he thought he would make a couple of tackles, be a useful breakwater in front of the defensive line. Maybe he dreamed of a heroic block he could tell people about for years but for him, a quiet game would have been a good game. As it turned out, his game could hardly have been noisier.

Gjasula, now at Darmstadt having played for a series of Germany’s less storied names, had been on the pitch for two minutes when Andrej Kramaric squeezed a shot through Elseid Hysaj’s legs to equalise.

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