Croatia are into the last eight of the World Cup after a tense penalty shootout against Denmark where five penalties were saved.

Kasper Schmeichel and Danijel Subasic both starred in goal in the shootout, but Ivan Rakitic was the hero who fired the winning effort to send Croatia into the quarter-final.

Denmark took the lead after a minute when a long throw fell to Mathias Jorgensen who stabbed the ball beneath Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. Croatia were quickly back in the game when a Denmark clearance comically deflected off Andreas Christensen’s face and toward Mario Mandzukic who equalised from close range.

In the 25th minute of added time, Luka Modric had the chance to score from the spot and surely secure Croatia’s place in the quarter-final but his effort was very well saved by Schmeichel.

Here’s five things we learned from the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium:

Schmeichel saves Modric's penalty in extra time (Reuters)

Long throws cause damage

It’s baffling that more teams do not train a long-throw specialist after watching the success it can bring to certain sides. Iceland battled their way to the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championship with Aron Gunnarsson causing chaos with his long hurls into the box, and Denmark appear to have their own in-house specialist.

Only 60 seconds passed before Ipswich full-back Jonas Knudsen had the ball in his hands ready to launch an attacking throw into the box. The long throw was bundled to the back post where Mathias Jorgensen stabbed the ball at the goalkeeper who helps it into the back of the net to open the scoring.

No matter what level, it seems that long throws cause anarchy amongst defenders and it makes you wonder why more teams don’t try it.

Denmark celebrate opening the scoring (AFP/Getty Images)

Andreas Christensen fails midfield audition

As Chelsea spend their early summer figuring out where to send a team-worth of young players on loan, they can be proud of one player they have produced and are getting the best out of: Andreas Christensen. At Chelsea he has emerged as a bright young central defender who is quick, good in a tackle and very confident on the ball. These qualities prompted Denmark coach Age Hareide to start the 22-year-old in a holding midfield role.

It was a smart move to play a centre-back by trade in a midfield against Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric who have been dominating midfields in every game they’ve played together at this tournament. However, things got off to a pretty bad start when Christensen got his face in the way of a clearance which fell to Mandzukic who equalised to make the it 1-1.

Playing slightly further up the pitch means that the number of players pressing him increased and therefore the quality and success of his play on the ball dropped. On a couple of occasions he lost the ball in dangerous areas which put his side in real danger and at half time his game was over.

Andreas Christensen, left, battles with Ivan Strinic (Reuters)

Croatia may have the most feared midfield

Lining up against Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic in midfield means you are up against a combined 200 international caps, five Champions League titles and over 25 trophies in Spain alone. Add Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic to that and you have one of, if not the, best midfield in the world.

The service towards Mandzukic was at times exceptional and varied. The crosses were accurate and dangerous. The through balls were defence splitting and precise. The quick passing increased the tempo at their leisure and Croatia dominated the game from the middle.

In his Independent column, Frank de Boer candidly described Modric as the best midfielder of a generation, and it’s very hard to disagree with him.

Mario Mandzukic celebrates with team-mates (AFP/Getty Images)

Denmark won the tactical battle

With a striker like Mandzukic playing on his own, it is vital to quickly get bodies around him to allow him to release the ball after holding it up. Often the gap between the lone forward and the midfield is quite large, meaning wide players are usually the ones that collect the ball from him.

Denmark were brave and as they grew into the game they pushed their full backs higher up the pitch which forced Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic to track back to avoid an overload down one wing. This meant that Croatia were playing 4-5-1 instead of 4-3-3 which was leaving Mandzukic very isolated.

Kasper Schmeichel comes of age

Croatia had the chance to win the match in the 25th minute of extra time. Modric placed the ball on the penalty spot after Zanka brought down Ante Rebic who was through on goal. But there was no way that Schmeichel was going to let him scored.

The Leicester and Denmark goalkeeper filled the goal with his huge frame, made his presence felt and saved Modric’s penalty.