On 7 July, in the match against hosts Russia in the quarter-finals, Subašić suffered a minor injury in the last few minutes of the match, but despite this, Subašić kept on playing the match, making several important saves. In the penalty shootout, Subašić saved the first penalty from Fyodor Smolov; thereby becoming just the third goalkeeper in World Cup history to have made four or more saves in penalty shootouts at the World Cup finals; equaling the record made by Sergio Goycochea and Harald Schumacher, also making Croatia just the second team to have advanced on consecutive penalty shootouts, after Argentina in 1990. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final, Croatia lost 4–2 to France. Subašić received praise for his performance at the tournament, including from legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.