Spain vs Croatia takes their strength into Olympiastadion today at 1900 hrs EAT. It’s the first match in group B to meet in Euro 2024.
Spain has won three times of European Championships and in 2020, they lost at semi-finals. Croatia on the other hand have never made past quarter-final of this competition. Spanish team is in its strong form after smashing Ando3rra 5-0 and Northern Ireland 5-1 in June 2024 friendly matches. They drew with Brazil when they met in another friendly match on 26th March 2024.
With exciting young talent in their disposal, Spain will leverage the likes of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Pedri. However, Gavi won’t appear in the squad as he is nursing an injury.
For Croatians, Ivan Perisic will appear in his consecutive major tournaments after he recovered from injury at Hajduk Split.
Possible line-up:
Spain: Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Nacho, Grimaldo; Ruiz, Rodri, Pedri; Yamal, Morata, Williams
Croatia: Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; Brozovic, Kovacic, Modric; Majer, Budimir, Kramaric
Spain vs Croatia position lineups-(Courtesy of talksport.com)
Croatia
Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic (Fenerbahce), Ivica Ivusic (Pafos), Nediljko Labrovic (Rijeka)
Defenders: Domagoj Vida (AEK Athens), Josip Juranovic (Union Berlin), Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City), Borna Sosa (Ajax), Josip Stanisic (Bayer Leverkusen), Josip Sutalo (Ajax), Martin Erlic (Sassuolo), Marin Pongracic (Lecce)
Midfielders: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City), Marcelo Brozovic (Al Nassr), Mario Pasalic (Atalanta), Nikola Vlasic (Torino), Lovro Majer (Wolsfburg), Luka Ivanusec (Feyenoord), Luka Sucic (RB Salzburg), Martin Baturina (Dinamo Zagreb)
Forwards: Ivan Perisic (Hajduk Split), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim), Bruno Petkovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Marko Pjaca (Rijeka), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Marco Pasalic (Rijeka)
Spain
Goalkeepers: Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao), Alex Remiro (Real Sociedad), David Raya (Arsenal – on loan from Brentford)
Defenders: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Aymeric Laporte (Al-Nassr), Nacho Fernandez (Real Madrid), Robin Le Normand (Real Sociedad), Dani Vivian (Athletic Bilbao), Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Real Sociedad), Fabian Ruiz (Paris St-Germain), Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad), Pedri (Barcelona), Alex Baena (Villarreal), Fermin Lopez (Barcelona)
Forwards: Alvaro Morata (Atletico Madrid), Joselu (Real Madrid), Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Ayoze Perez (Real Betis), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Spain vs Croatia prediction.
We predict Spain to win. However, there is possibility that they may draw. With both teams likely to make few goal scores.
