Croatia, Austria reach Euro 2020 as tournament begins to take shape

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Emilio Andreoli - UEFA / UEFA / Getty

Add two more nations to the Euro 2020 party.

Croatia, last year's World Cup finalist, and Austria both secured a place in next summer's tournament Saturday, getting the necessary results against Slovakia and North Macedonia, respectively.

The two sides needed just a draw heading into Saturday's action to clinch their spots in the 24-team competition. Leaving nothing to chance, both clubs picked up wins.

Croatia came back from a 1-0 halftime deficit in its match, as Nikola Vlasic and Bruno Petkovic scored within four minutes of each other to ensure there would be no shock result for the hosts in Rijeka. Ivan Perisic then cemented the 3-1 win with a lovely volley in the latter stages of the contest.

Croatia's victory means there's only one more automatic qualifying berth available in Group E, with Hungary, the aforementioned Slovakia, and Wales all in the mix.

Over in Group G, meanwhile, Austria joined Poland in booking a ticket to the Euros.

An early strike from Bayern Munich star David Alaba gave the host nation the lead in Vienna before Bundesliga peer Stefan Lainer secured the eventual 2-1 triumph with a close-range strike just after the interval.

With Germany and the Netherlands also nabbing automatic places in the upcoming European Championship with positive results of their own Saturday, 16 of the 24 tournament berths are now spoken for.

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