Croatia qualified for the 2022 World Cup Finals in bizarre yet brilliant fashion with Celtic and Rangers stars Josip Juranovic and Borna Barisic set for Qatar.
Ange Postecoglou's summer recruit started at right-back for Zlatko Dalic's side in a 1-0 win over Russia, while Barisic was named on the bench.
The Parkhead man's crossing was useful for the hosts given pretty play on the deck was rendered impossible.
Torrential rain turned Hajduk Split's Poljud Stadium surface into a bog on Sunday afternoon.
But the 2018 runners-up were dominant throughout and on a calmer surface Vatreni could have been out of sight.
In the downpour came delight when the breakthrough finally arrived with nine minutes to go — from a Russian player.
Fyodor Kurdyashov's fatal error diverted Borna Sosa's hopeful back post ball past his own keeper and sent his country sliding down to second.
The desperate Russians piled forward as their automatic ticket to Qatar 2022 evaporated in front of them.
But it was to no avail and instead they are in the play-offs, where they could meet Scotland.
A crumb of comfort is they are likely to be among the six seeded teams for that stage which provides a home tie in the semi-final and if Steve Clarke's men wind up unseeded - made more likely by this result - a long trip to Moscow is one to be avoided in the draw.
