Croatia beat Spain 2-1 in the last game of their group D match, with the teams playing out to a delightfulspectacle at theNouveau Stade de Bordeaux on Tuesday night.
The Spaniards came into the match leading the group with six points, having won both of their opening matches, while Croatia started in second place with four points.
The defending champions got down to business quite early, with Alvaro Morata scoring his third goal in two games for Spain, in the seventh minute,after being set up with an easy tap-in by Cesc Fabregas, whom David Silva had played in with a beautiful reverse pass.
Spain No7 @AlvaroMorata moves onto three goals for the tournament...#CROESP #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/jTCSEZ9ShI
Spain survived a scare six minutes later, following a surprise mistake from David de Gea, who played a back-pass with a poor touch, allowing Croatia to pounce. Ivan Rakitic seemed sure to score when he chipped the ball goalwards, but was unfortunate as it hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced on the goal-line before being cleared.
Vicente del Bosque's team continued on with attractive passing, and opened up the defence on a few more occasions, yet the Croats seemed quite intent on scoring themselves, breaking forward at every opportunity.
They got the Spanish defence to bend to their will just before the half-time whistle, equalising through Nikola Kalinic in the 45th minute. The Fiorentina striker scored with a volleyed back-heeled shot off Ivan Perisic's cross.
After a very entertaining first period, the teams would head into the half-time break with a 1-1 scoreline and the battle for the top group Dspot very much on.
Croatia looked quite comfortable in the second period, and were the livelier of the teams as the half wore on.
Tin Jedvaj forced De Gea into a save on 58 minutes, and the shaky Spanish defence would breathe a collective sigh of relief afterMarko Pjaca acrobatically volleyed the rebound just wide of the goal.
Del Bosque replaced Morata with Aritz Aduriz in the 66th minute, just before Sergio Ramos hit a free header wide of the mark from a corner kick.
Five minutes later, The Real Madrid defender missed yet another opportunity as his penalty wassaved by Danijel Subasic, following a soft foul on David Silva in the box.
WATCH: Perisic's late winner lifts Croatia to top of its group, forces Spain into 2nd https://t.co/RMjnwwXJ4O pic.twitter.com/FzuPNMLR3b
Croatia would score what turned out to be the winning goal in the 89th minute, as Perisic burst forward on a quick counter to beat De Gea at his near post on the left side, leaving the Spaniards in absolute bewilderment.
Spain, unable to recover, would have to concede the first spot to their opponents, who thoroughly deserved it after such a brilliant performance.
Starting Lineups
Croatia (4-2-3-1): Subasic; Srna, Corluka, Jedvaj, Vrsaljko; Badelj, Rog; Pjaca, Rakitic, Perisic; Kalinic
Spain (4-3-3): De Gea; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Alba; Busquets, Cesc, Iniesta; Silva, Morata, Nolito
Meanwhile, Turkey have beaten the Czech Republic 2-0. Burak Yilmaz would put the the Turks ahead in the 10th minute with a beautiful close range shot from Emre Mor's cross.
Ozan Tufon made it 2-0 midway through the second half, scoring with a right-footed shot in the top right corner after getting on the end of Mehmet Topal's ball from a set piece.
Turkey cruised through until the end, and in doing so, have leapfrogged the Czechs to seal a third-placed finish.