Croatia vs Spain Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jun 20, 2016 @ 12:56 am

Next Tuesday, 21st of June 2016, Croatia will measure forces with the current European champions Spain at Stade de Bordeaux in the Gironde department in southwestern France for their last match on Group D.

Croatia have lost a golden opportunity to claw the three points for the second time in the tournament when they met the Czech Republic last time out. Considering their two-goal lead, it wasn’t very likely that the Croatians would allow their opponents to level the score, but the truth is that they have failed to cope with the Czech belief and ended by losing two points. Croatia controlled almost every detail of the match, especially during the first 60 minutes, but after the match was suspended due to the flares thrown by the Croatian Ultras that were in the stands, the team lost focus and allowed their opponents to pull off a strong comeback. The upcoming match against Spain is of the utmost importance for Croatia, since, in case of win, they will be able to claw the first place of Group D and relegate Spain to the second position. For that particular match, Croatia’s boss Ante Cacic is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the services of Real Madrid’s deep-lying playmaker Luka Modric and on Mario Mandzukic, who are both recovering from recent injuries.

As for Spain, after a narrow win over the Czech Republic, La Roja pulled off an excellent performance against Turkey last time out and showed once again that they are one of the biggest contenders to win the tournament. Vintage performances by Andrés Iniesta, Álvaro Morata and Nolito allowed the Spanish to completely outclass the Turkish team and to claw a place in the next stage of the tournament. Spain controlled the entire match, having no more no less than 18 goals attempts and a considerable percentage of ball possession.

Spain are certainly hoping to maintain the first place of their group and, for that reason, Vicente Del Bosque will probably not produce plenty of changes in the starting XI for the upcoming match against Croatia.

Croatia

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - DWWWD

Spain

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWLWW

Possible Line-ups

Croatia (4-2-3-1) – Subasic - Srna - Corluka - Vida - Jedvaj - Kovacic - Badelj - Rakitic - Brozovic - Perisic - Mandzukic

Spain (4-3-3) – De Gea - Juanfran - Ramos - Piqué - Alba - Busquets - Iniesta - Koke - Nolito - Silva - Morata

Injury List / Suspended Players

Croatia - Mandzukic (in doubt) - Modric (in doubt)

Spain - None

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions