---
title: "Lukas Hornicek makes superb late save despite Czechia defeat"
canonical: "https://readnewcastle.com/2026/09/27/lukas-hornicek-czechia-croatia-late-save-newcastle/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "James Chettle"
section: "Newcastle United News"
published: "2026-09-27T07:26:00Z"
modified: "2026-09-27T07:26:00Z"
---

# Lukas Hornicek makes superb late save despite Czechia defeat

Lukas Hornicek produced an impressive stoppage-time save for Czechia despite their 2-1 Nations League defeat to Croatia on Saturday night.

The Newcastle United goalkeeper started in Prague and played the full 90 minutes as Czechia began their League A campaign with a narrow loss.

Croatia captain Luka Modric opened the scoring shortly after half-time before Adam Karabec equalised seven minutes later.

Marco Pasalic restored Croatia’s advantage in the 77th minute when his header crossed the line despite Hornicek getting a hand to the effort.

However, the Newcastle goalkeeper prevented the visitors adding a third late on.

[Sport.cz’s live report](https://www.sport.cz/clanek/online-fotbal-liga-narodu-uefa-cesko-chorvatsko-26-09-2026-5540612) records Hornicek producing a superb save in the 93rd minute to push Nikola Vlasic’s curling effort narrowly past his right post.

## Lukas Hornicek continues busy Newcastle season

Saturday represented another important senior international appearance for the 24-year-old after establishing himself as Matthias Jaissle’s first-choice goalkeeper at Newcastle.

Read Newcastle reported before the game that [Hornicek had been selected to start against Croatia](https://readnewcastle.com/2026/09/26/lukas-hornicek-czechia-croatia-newcastle/).

Fresh details also emerged this weekend about the deal that brought him to Tyneside, with Braga president Antonio Salvador revealing that [Newcastle paid €30.57million for Hornicek](https://readnewcastle.com/2026/09/26/lukas-hornicek-newcastle-transfer-fee-release-clause/).

Czechia are back in action against England on Tuesday, potentially giving Hornicek another opportunity to strengthen his position at international level.

Read Newcastle’s [international tracker](https://readnewcastle.com/2026/09/22/newcastle-united-three-week-break-international-duty/) will continue to follow every Magpies player throughout the break.