Improving Croatia to put Spain out at the death
Croatia and Spain will do battle in the last 16 of Euro 2020 at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen late on Monday afternoon, and neither side has truly shown what they're capable of up until this point. Both nations started off slowly in the competition, and qualification for the knockout phase after two matches was far from certain for either, even taking into consideration the current format. While Luis Enrique's men blew away Slovakia 5-0 to secure second, there's still a feeling that, whilst lethal on their day, they're not in the same bracket as the vintage trophy-winning teams from a decade ago. Their opponents are also not quite the same as the ones that got all the way to the World Cup final in 2018, but won't let La Furia Roja walk all over them, especially in midfield. Read our preview here:
Nikola's coiled
Whilst it took a while for Vatreni to show their superiority over Scotland in the final group game, their higher class eventually told, especially in the centre of the park. Captain Luka Modrić took the fixture by the scruff of the neck, capping it off with a trademark finish from outside the area. Here, he'll need his compatriots to be at their best to decrease the chances of being swamped by Spain, and on paper, the trio in the traditional red and white chequered shirts are at the very least their equal. Elsewhere is perhaps a different matter, and both have their problems up top. However, 23 year old Nikola Vlašić, starting his first game of the tournament, had a big influence on the outcome, scoring once and generally being a menace in the rearguard of the Tartan Army. Ivan Perišić will be his opposite number in the left half-space, and both will be flanking Bruno Petković. Together, they ought to keep the backline more occupied than they've experienced previously this summer.
Fruit Busquets
In a similar fashion, Barcelona veteran and pivot Sergio Busquets, still somehow only 32, came back to further solidify the Spanish midfield during their evisceration of Slovakia. His restored presence will allow Koke and youngster Pedri to push much further up the pitch in support of the front three, safe in the knowledge that the anchorman will mop up behind them and dictate the tempo if given even a quarter of a chance to do so. Elsewhere, Enrique looks set to stick with the misfiring Álvaro Morata as the main striker, despite his woes being compounded by that penalty miss on top of wasting other very presentable opportunities in the tournament to date. He will have the full-backs bombing forwards and staying wide to put in crosses for him though, and he's unlikely to ever find himself isolated.
Spain in pain and on the wane?
On very few occasions can a team win 5-0 during a major international tournament and the perception of them not improve very much, if indeed at all. Spain, like opponents Croatia and the three qualified sides from the so-called Group of Death, have not, for one reason or another, shown everything they're capable of. Whilst fatigue could definitely be a factor, few teams really fear the Iberian outfit in a way they once did. Man for man, Zlatko Dalić's charges come close to matching them, even without the star power they had when they came close to a maiden World Cup win. Expect this encounter to go to the distance, and the longer it goes, the more it begins to favour Croatia - betway have odds of 3.80 to reach the quarter finals by any means (90 minutes, after extra time, or on penalties).
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