Croatia saw out a nervy ending to seal their place in the knockout rounds and send Belgium home.
They were awarded a penalty midway through the first half after Yannick Carrasco had pulled Andrej Kramarić down in the box but VAR overturned the decision after Dejan Lovren was found to be offside in the build-up to the foul.
Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez turned to Romelu Lukaku from the bench at half-time to save their World Cup dream, and the Inter striker missed a golden chance to break the deadlock when the ball fell to him six yards out but his right-footed effort came back out off the post.
Luka Modrić and Marcelo Brozović were both denied by Thibaut Courtois as they went in search of the goal that would’ve given them some breathing space but in the end they didn’t need it and the 2018 runners-up continue their record of making it out of the group stage at every tournament they’ve featured in.
Lukaku then failed to get his feet sorted to get on the end of a cross into the box from Thorgan Hazard, which saw the ball fall into the arms of Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković from underneath the crossbar.
It’s the first time Belgium have failed to make it out of the group since 1998.