Ivan Rakitic fears Croatia may be expelled from Euro 2016 after crowd trouble marred the end of their 2-2 draw with Czech Republic on Friday.
Croatia’s inability to preserve a two-goal lead was overshadowed by flares being thrown on the pitch and a firecracker set off, the latter of which caught a steward, just days after UEFA warned such behaviour from supporters could lead to their country’s ejection from the tournament.
“We’ll see if we can play against Spain. We may have to go home after what happened. We didn’t play behind closed doors by chance,” the Barcelona midfielder said in the mixed zone, Marca reports.
“Except for the last 20 minutes, we played very well. It’s true that I didn’t feel safe at any moment [in the game] and less so after Czech Republic’s first goal.
“After the match was suspended for a few minutes due to the smoke that was on the pitch, we lost our rhythm.
“For the second Czech goal, I don’t know if [Domagoj] Vida used his hand or not, so we have to rely on what the referee saw.
“If we play our [usual] football [against Spain], we won’t have any problems reaching the last 16.”
