The country of around 4 million people came to a standstill as Croatians watched the game on screens in squares and cafes.
Croatia made heavy weather of beating Denmark in their worst performance of the tournament, but will seek to rediscover their fluency in a weekend showdown against Russia for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
Olympique de Marseille were the fall guys on a hectic opening night of Europa League group stage action as German club Eintracht Frankfurt returned from the south of France with a surprise 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Holders Croatia had to be content with a win and a loss from the opening day's two singles rubbers in the Davis Cup.
Britain's Tim Henman eased past Clement Arnaud and will meet third seed Richard Gasquet in the next round.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka stunned second seed David to reach the second round of the Zagreb indoor tournament.
The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top.
Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric broke his country's scoring record by netting eight times as top flight Rijeka thrashed third division Zmaj Blato 11-0 in a cup match on Wednesday.
The US sprinters finished together in 10.30 seconds yesterday, edging world champion Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis by .03 seconds.
The Indian shooter finished a poor 32nd in the men's Free Pistol event at the ISSF World Shooting Championships.
A summary of Tuesday's matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona's Luis Suarez hit a brace and set up a double for a spritely Lionel Messi to score in his first start after injury in a rampant 6-1 Champions League victory over AS Roma on Tuesday.
Junior shooters deliver 2 gold, 1 silver for India at world championships
The defending champion easily won his fourth round match against Croatian Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon.
Last-minute starter Adrian Ramos scored a first-half header to give Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 victory over Sporting on Wednesday and earn a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League with two Group F matches to spare.
A preview of the line-up action in the English Premier League
The former Wimbledon champion said his serve is now so weak that he would struggle to beat the Williams sisters.
Eight police officers needed hospital treatment and more than 15 soccer fans were arrested following violent clashes ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match between Scotland's Celtic and Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Everton have agreed to sign Barcelona's Colombia centre back Yerry Mina for an initial 30.25 million euros ($34.97 million) and have also taken the club's midfielder Andre Gomes on loan, the Spanish champions said on Thursday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
World number two Roger Federer edged past Ivo Karlovic 7-6(3), 7-6(4) on Saturday to reach the Halle Open final and stay on course for his eighth title in the grasscourt Wimbledon warmup event.
Sevilla's love affair with the Europa League was immediately rekindled as last season's champions and three-time winners began this year's group stage with a 2-0 home victory over Feyenoord on Thursday.
C'wealth Games gold medallist Samresh Jung finished 24th in the men's 10m air pistol in the ISSF World Cup.\n\n
The 51-year-old was a member of the Croatian team that finished third in the 1998 World Cup.
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has been 'deeply affected' by last week's Paris attacks and might not be in the right frame of mind to play in Saturday's Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion, manager Arsene Wenger has said.
The poor show in the men's 10m air rifle event at the World Cup is a setback to the Indian marksman's Olympics qualification.
Sofiane Feghouli's late goal eased the nerves at Valencia's Mestalla as the Spanish club grabbed a 3-1 victory over Monaco in the first leg of their Champions league play-off round tie on Wednesday.
Two late goals in two minutes from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez gave European champions Barcelona a dramatic 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Manchester United were given a troublesome tie against Club Bruges in the draw for the Champions League playoff round on Friday, although it could have been worse as they avoided Lazio, CSKA Moscow or Monaco.
Pep Guardiola will return to the Nou Camp in the Champions League group stage after his new club Manchester City were drawn against his former Barcelona team on Thursday. The two sides were drawn in Group C alongside Borussia Moenchengladbach and former European champions Celtic in one of the toughest of the eight sections. Spanish coach Guardiola, who won the Champions League twice with Barca, faced the Catalans when he was in charge of Bayern Munich two seasons ago and suffered a 5-3 defeat in the semi-finals.
Levski Sofia fans force players to remove shirts after derby defeat
Arsenal had scored 10 goals in two matches against BATE Borisov in the same competition in 2017 but never looked like being as prolific in the freezing temperatures of Belarus.
Barcelona are in the middle of an injury crisis as they head to Valencia for Saturday's La Liga game looking to keep up with pacemaking pair Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Without injured goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and right back Sergi Roberto for the last two games, Barca will also be missing defenders Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique after both were hurt in Wednesday's 4-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League. Pique sprained his right ankle while Alba injured his left hamstring and both are out until November.
Images from Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
IMAGES from the Europa League matches played on Thursday
Rattled by embarrassing domestic defeats, Chelsea looked jittery before Olivier Giroud settled their nerves with a close range tap-in shortly after halftime at StamfordBridge following good work by N'Golo Kante and Willian in the build-up.
Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a Europa League night to remember by scoring the first hat-trick of his career as the midfielder inspired them to a 3-1 home win over Belarus champions BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Former European champions Celtic were helped by two own goals as they thumped Astana 5-0 at home and a late goal from Wissam Ben Yedder gave Sevilla a 2-1 win at Istanbul Basaksehir in torrential rain.
France stretched their unbeaten run against Croatia to eight games after a late goal by Kylian Mbappe gave the world champions a 2-1 win in their Nations League top-tier Group 3 match on Wednesday.
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