Romania and Slovakia both reach last 16 after Razvan Marin seals stormy draw

Romania's Razvan Marin is embraced after his penalty equaliser against Slovakia. Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP

So much for the “Disgrace of Gijón” part two. Romania and Slovakia may have got the result they knew beforehand would guarantee both countries escaped from Group E, but there was no scintilla of a stitch-up about it. Unlike the notorious match between West Germany and Austria in 1982, this game was not played at walking pace but full throttle, with chances galore, even in the middle of an apocalyptic thunderstorm.

Ondrej Duda’s powerful header was cancelled out by Razvan Marin’s penalty and that meant Romania qualified top of the group, while Slovakia went through too as one of the best third-placed sides. With a crowd three-quarters Romanian it felt like a home fixture at times, and the atmosphere was remarkable with noise and pyrotechnics throughout, but these were two evenly matched teams and a draw was a fair result. Honest.

While both coaches had promised to go for victory before the match began, few people believed them. But immediately from kick-off it was clear that the tempo was too high, even in temperatures approaching 30 degrees, to reflect a preconceived stalemate. Slovenia had the opening chance of the game, Juraj Kucka heading over from a corner while in a decent amount of space. On 10 minutes Milan Skriniar drove a volley over the bar from another set piece. A minute after that Romania crafted their opening opportunity, the intrepid right-back Andrei Ratiu and his blue hair dancing through the Slovakian back four and getting away a shot that Martin Dubravka had to turn around the post.

Slovakia were playing direct, their canny midfield of Duda, Stanislav Lobotka and Kucka always aware of the space in front of them and effectively timing their runs from deep. Romania were happier to be on the ball, but they were often getting knocked off it. A Slovakian free-kick in the 21st minute saw Lukas Haraslin swing in a cross that eluded the onrushing Duda but almost crept inside Florin Nita’s far post.

Duda made no mistake some three minutes later, however, and it was a goal of delightful simplicity. Working the ball back from the left-hand side of the Romanian box, Ivan Schranz found Kucka who didn’t even need to think but simply wrapped his right foot around the ball from 35 yards out, swinging it into the box where Duda was waiting. He timed his jump from the penalty spot, got up above the ball and nutted it back across goal cleanly and well beyond Nita.

The celebrations were wild and all of a sudden it was the pocket of Slovakian fans who were making all the noise. Such were the intricate permutations of Group E that this one goal saw Slovakia go top of the group and Romania bottom. Ten minutes later and it flipped around again. Romania equalised from a penalty slammed home by Marin, who also tore off in delight like a wild man. But the spot-kick was only awarded after lengthy consideration by VAR after the referee, Daniel Siebert, had initially watched David Hancko bring down Ianis Hagi and adjudge the foul to be outside the box. To be fair to the German official it did appear first contact was made outside, but Hancko followed through to catch Hagi a second time inside the box and the decision was duly overturned.

After the break and about 10 minutes into the second half, something extraordinary happened. A thunderclap so loud that it drowned out the noise of 50,000 fans announced the sudden and entirely unpredicted arrival of an enormous storm, which within minutes was hurling squalls of rain on to the players. It was like playing on the high seas, but this affected the tempo of play not a jot.

On the hour Romania saw a long-range effort from Marin saved desperately by Dubravka before the substitute Deian Sorescu lashed the ball on to the roof of the net from the subsequent phase of play. Not to be outmatched, Slovakia went up the other end where David Strelec made Nita earn his corn with a left-footed reaction save from a low drive.

Only in the closing stages, and with the game disrupted by a constant flow of substitutes as much as anything else, did it seem like the sides were willing to accept the outcome that suited them both. There were whistles from all sides of the ground calling for the referee to confirm the tie, but nowhere near as loud as the songs that continued to be belted out by all. Supporters and players alike had done themselves justice here and they can now look forward to the knockouts.