Euro 2020 Preview: Croatia vs Spain – Key stats, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction

Alvaro Morata-Spain

Spain and Croatia will lock horns in a thrilling round of 16 encounter.

Venue: Parken

Key Statistics

  • Spain remained unbeaten in their group stage while hammering Slovakia 5-0 in their final game.
  • Croatia had a somewhat troubled group stage but secured their place to the knockouts after a comprehensive win against Scotland.

Head to Head record:

  • Croatia 3 wins; 1 draw; Spain 4 Wins; Croatia scored 9 goals against 15 by Spain ( In total of 8 matches)
  • Spain and Croatia had met twice before in the European Championship, with both sharing a win. However, Croatia suffered a heavy 6-0 defeat in their recent encounter with La Roja in 2018.

Recent Performance

Croatia: WDLLDW (Goals for 8. Goals against 5)

Spain: WDWDDW (Goals for 13. Goals against 2)

Croatia

Croatia looked a bit off-colour when the campaign began, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat against England followed by a draw against the Czech Republic.

However, Zlatko Dalic’s side fought hard in their final matchday against Scotland, with captain Luka Modric inspiring to a 3-1 win.

The 2108 World Cup finalists await an exciting Spanish side in the Round of 16 and will look to turn the fortunes around.

Possible line-ups (Croatia)

Livakovic; Juranovic; Vida, Caleta-Car, Gvardiol; Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic,Mateo Kovacic; Niko Vlasic; Ivan Perisic, Bruno Petkovic.

Unavailable: Perisic (illness), Lovren (suspended)

Doubtful: Vrsaljko

Misses next match if booked: Brozovic, Caleta-Car, Kovacic

It will be very hard to replace Perišić but I think we have quality solutions and I am sure whoever will be playing, he will play to his best to help the team. Can he replace Perišić at the same level? I doubt it. But we are really well covered at that left-wing position and we will have a quality solution. We don’t need to worry about the other teams. We respect them all, especially [Spain]. They also know that we are a quality team and they are not happy to be playing against us. We have to be fully motivated. Our goal is to reach the quarter-finals.

Zlatko Dalic, Croatia

Spain

After back to back disappointing draws against Sweden and Poland, Spain came under scrutiny, which put their Euros campaign in jeopardy. However, Luis Enrique’s side answered the critics with an emphatic win against Slovakia and made their way into the last 16.

The Current Spanish squad is centred around youngsters, and from Pedri to Eric Garcia, talents are found everywhere on the pitch.

And against the Slovaks, the Spanish attackers provided what has been missing – the killer instinct in the final third. 

Yet, La Roja have been handed a tricky tie against Croatia, who will be looking to thrive on counter-attacks.

Croatia are World Cup runners-up, a top team, so we know they’ll be difficult opponents. Winning is down to us working really hard and pushing for victory in Copenhagen.

Ferran Torres, Spain

Possible line-ups (Spain): 

Unai Simon; Cesar Azpilicueta, Eric García, Aymeric Laporte, Jordi Alba; Koke, Sergio Busquets, Pedri; Gerard Moreno, Alvaro Morata, Pablo Sarabia.

Misses next match if booked: Jordi Alba, Busquets, Pau Torres, Rodri

Probability

Croatia : Draw : Spain :: 15% : 25% : 60%

Prediction

Spain 2 – 1 Croatia