VARAZDIN, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) - ⁠Croatia substitute Mario Pasalic grabbed a stoppage-time winner to edge neighbours ⁠Slovenia 2-1 in their friendly international on Sunday and head ‌to the World Cup on a winning note.

It was the final warm-up game for the Croats, who have reached at least the final four of the last two World ​Cups, before departing for the tournament in Canada, ⁠Mexico, and the United States. ⁠They will open their campaign against England in Dallas on June 17.

Captain ⁠Luka ‌Modric, playing possibly his last home international, fittingly scored to give Croatia an early second-half lead, but a horror back pass ⁠allowed Slovenia substitute Andraz Sporar to equalise in the ​83rd minute.

Pasalic’s volleyed ‌effort three minutes into stoppage time came as a relief for ⁠the Croatians, who ​will consider themselves fortunate to have won the game.

The 40-year-old Modric cleverly placed a shot from the edge of the area into the net in the ⁠51st minute after being set up by ​a square pass by Perisic. It was Modric's 29th goal in 198 appearances.

A defensive slip, however, from Martin Baturina gifted Sporar the chance to fire ⁠home from close range, which he did without hesitation.

But Slovenia failed to clear a bouncing ball in their area with time running out, and Pasalic snapped up the chance to volley into the net.

Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic ​had earlier made several key stops, notably ⁠from Zan Vipotnik.

Croatia had been beaten last Tuesday 2-0 by Belgium in Rijeka ​in the first of the two warm-up ‌internationals arranged ahead of the World Cup, ​where Croatia also play against Ghana and Panama in Group L.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)