Croatia – Spain

Croatia faces Spain at the Parken in Copenhagen in a game from the 1/8-finals of the Euro 2020. Two very good teams are going head to head, so let’s take a look at it.

Croatia are the current World Cup finalists, but they didn’t show exactly their best football during the group stage. The Blazers won just one of their three matches in Group D – against Scotland, but this was enough for them to qualify second and progress.

The 35-years old veteran Luka Modric became the hero during the decisive 3-1 win over over Scotland in the group. The Ballon d’Or winner scored one of the goals against the Tartan Army and assisted for the one scored by Ivan Perisic. Meanwhile Nikola Vlasic scored against the Scottish side as well.

The head coach Zlatko Dalic made some crucial changes against Scotland. He left Andrej Kramaric and Ante Rebic out of the starting eleven and picked Nikola Vlasic and Bruno Petkovic instead. This worked out well and the Croats scored three times.

Just like Croatia, Spain won just one of their games in the group stage – the last one against Slovakia. It was an impressive performance by La Roja as Luis Enrique achieved a 5-0 win against the Falcons. Alvaro Morata missed a penalty kick in this game, but this didn’t stop his teammates from creating a spectacle. Slovakia scored themselves two own goals as Dubravka and Kucka put the ball in their own net while Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres scored for Spain as well.

The good news for Spain was the return of the captain Sergio Busquets. The veteran played until the 71th minute and bossed the midfield in a way we know him very well doing.

That’s the preview we can offer you for the Euro 2020 clash between Croatia and Spain from the 1/8-finals. Both teams won their last games in the group stage, but here only one of them can progress.