ALICANTE, Spain (Reuters) – Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic could not hide his joy on Friday evening at a summit of EU Mediterranean countries after his country beat hot favourites Brazil on penalties to advance to the World Cup semi-finals.
“This was certainly the most exciting meeting of the year, if not ever, with a particularly happy end,” a beaming Plenkovic told reporters at the end of the summit in the Spanish city of Alicante as he was applauded by eight other leaders standing alongside him.
“I’m more focused on what’s happening at home and who should we play in the semi-finals,” he said.
“On all the issues (raised at the summit’s final briefing) I subscribe to everything that (Spanish Prime Minister) Pedro (Sanchez) has said. I will always cherish Alicante in my heart,” he said, ending a speech that lasted only 37 seconds.
A source present at the meeting told Reuters that Plenkovic had been watching the nail-biting last part of the match instead of attending a meeting on economic governance, while Sanchez said that all the leaders had watched the penalty shoot-out together.
(Reporting by Belen Carreno, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Susan Fenton)
