Croatia had the pressure on them ahead of the meeting with Albania, after being thrashed 0-3 by Spain in the first match.
Then the Croatians were in for a new flop, after 2-2 in the "Balkan derby".
The equaliser came in the absolute final stages.
It was in added time, with a minute left, that Klaus Gjasula scored the 2-2 goal for Albania to Croatia's great dismay.
A sweet revenge for the Albanian midfielder, who earlier in the match scored an own goal, at Croatia's 2-1 goal.
Albania unexpectedly took the lead, after just ten minutes of play, via a fine header by Qazim Laci.
Shortly afterwards, Albania's big star Kristjan Asllani had a great opportunity to extend to 2-0, but Dominik Livaković's save kept Croatia in the match.
The 1-0 score stood for a long time before Croatia staged a lightning turnaround – two goals in two minutes.
Croatia's equaliser came in the 73rd minute through Andrej Kramaric, who normally plays for Hoffenheim in Germany. Gjasula's unfortunate own goal was not long in coming, after the ball bounced around in the penalty area following Ivan Perišić's shot.
In the final minutes, Albania had several chances to equalise, and eventually got a 2-2 goal in the end.
Croatia, who took the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championship, have now taken only one point in the "group of death". In the final round, they will face Italy – who tonight face Spain in a classic encounter.
