Spain vs Croatia

Berlin’s Olympiastadion is the venue as Spain and Croatia lock horns in a mouth-watering Euro 2024 Group B opener.

Spain’s quest to become the first nation to win four European Championship titles gets underway amidst a purple patch, with La Furia Roja racking up back-to-back friendly wins against Andorra and Northern Ireland by a 10-1 aggregate scoreline. Luis de la Fuente’s sent went from strength to strength during the qualifying cycle, breezing to a top-table finish in Group A after winning seven of their eight matches (L1) by a combined score of 25-5. Despite showing defensive resilience in their qualifying campaign, the Spaniards have only kept one clean sheet across their last six outings (W4, D1, L1). That’s a potentially ominous run for the Iberian heavyweights, considering they’ve conceded precisely three goals in two of their three most recent meetings with Croatia (W2, L1 – extra-time included).

Despite finishing third or better in the last two World Cup editions, Croatia have never progressed beyond the European Championship quarter-finals, a feat they’ll be keen to achieve in Luka Modric’s final appearance at a major international tournament. Zlatko Dalic’s side failed to impress during the qualifying campaign, securing qualification on the final matchday courtesy of a narrow 1-0 home win against Armenia. But a faultless four-game run in their warm-up fixtures, bookended by a 2-1 victory at Portugal last time out, has reinstilled confidence among the Croatian fans. After advancing past the group stages in four consecutive major tournaments, the Blazers will fancy their chances of making it out of this summer’s ‘group of death.’