In the knockout stages, Savićević was again on the bench for the start of the match against Spain in the excruciating late afternoon heat of Verona, but got his chance early into the second half with the score still tied at 0–0, coming on for largely ineffective club teammate Darko Pančev. Substituting striker for a midfielder, meant that Osim changed his formation from 3–5–2 to a bit more defensive 3–6–1 with only Zlatko Vujović up front. The match was soon taken over by Dragan Stojković who scored a beautiful goal in the 78th minute, but the score at the end of 90 minutes was 1–1, with Savićević putting in a confident performance. In the extra-time Stojković scored his second of the match on a masterfully placed free-kick. Incidentally, the free-kick came after a foul on Savićević during one of his surging runs across the midfield from right to left.