Croatia loses the Nations League game against England 0-7 - coach Bilic calls it the biggest defeat

After the historic 7-0 defeat against England in the Nations League, Croatia's national football coach Slaven Bilic was shocked. “It's hard to say anything after an evening like that. It's the biggest defeat ever," said the 58-year-old after the debacle in Rijeka. Never before had a Croatian team lost an international match so badly. So far, a 6-0 defeat in Spain in September 2018 was the most inglorious record game in the association's history.

Bilic emphasized that his team had trained well. «We never expected that. Everything looked good, but then - do we call it a bad day, a total failure? It's pointless to analyze a 0:7, but we still have to find the reasons for it," said the former Karlsruher SC professional.

Bilic is already under pressure after just a few games

For the successor of successful coach Zlatko Dalic, who resigned after the World Cup, it is already a painful blow in the neck after just a few months in office. Four days earlier, the Croatians had lost 4-1 to world champions Spain. The game against England was a low point not only because of the result, but above all because of the way it was played. Will things soon be tight for Bilic?

«It is clear that the responsibility lies with me. I am the coach, it is my national team. Of course we will analyze it, of course we will monitor it,” he said. The quality of the English is no excuse. “I don't think England would have beaten Estonia 7-0 at that point. This is unacceptable for Croatia,” he made clear.

National player Franjo Ivanovic made similar comments. «Since I've been on the national team, I've never experienced Croatia like this in all the games I've seen. A really bad day for everyone and I can't think of anything clever to say about it. Conceding seven goals against England is impossible. “Something like that shouldn’t happen to us,” he said on Nova TV. Next Tuesday Croatia will face Spain again.

Tuchel celebrates “fantastic victory”

The mood was completely different for England's national coach Thomas Tuchel, for whom the victory may have been a small liberation. After the defeat at Wembley against Spain and the lackluster competitive win in the Czech Republic, he had to face critical questions again.

“It was a fantastic win, of course an excellent result,” said Tuchel with satisfaction. «The performance underlined this result. She was at the highest level from the first to the last minute. The pace, technical quality and effort without the ball were at the highest level and I am very happy with the attitude."