Euro 2020: Croatia v Scotland match preview- team news, lineups

Euro 2020 group stages is coming to a close and while some teams have already cemented their place in the knockout rounds, there are others whose fates are still unknown. Croatia and Scotland, for example, both have the chance to battle for a third place in Group D. They might also go through to the next round as the second in the group if one of England or Czech Republic lose in their clash against each other.

Group D’s fate will be decided today as Scotland face Croatia and

lock horns with Czech Republic, with both games set to kick off at 21:00 CET. This particular group has exceeded many of our expectations as it has turned into one of the more excitingly tight groups, where every nation has a chance of qualifying for the Round of 16. Let’s see how Croatia and Scotland have reached where they are now.

Croatia v Scotland match preview

Will both teams have to settle for the third and fourth places in their respective group? Or will one of them, by miracle, get a chance at finishing the group stages behind the top spot as the second qualifying team? Here’s is how each nation has performed so far.

Croatia

It is quite tough to call any favorites just yet, as looking at the table will show you how close both teams are regarding their performance and the points they have accumulated so far.

, the somehow better of the two, started their campaign in Euro 2020 with a defeat against England, who thanks to Raheem Sterling’s goal, managed to stay afloat and clutch a 1-0 victory against Croatia.

Luka Modric and his teammates later went on to face

, who have performed much better than what we had expected of them. In quite an intense match between two fine teams, both went away with a point as their clash ended in a 1-1 draw.

Scotland

While no one expected

to prove any threat in the tournament, they actually managed to clutch a 0-0 draw against England, whose strikers have been drawing blanks lately. Steve Clarke and his men started their journey in the Euros with a 2-0 loss to Czech Republic, whose players actually managed to score one of the best goals of the competition, with Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall being completely humiliated over the goal that he conceded. Perhaps they might still have a chance, though, as nothing is written in stone.

Form analysis

One of the problems that many national teams have been suffering from throughout the tournament is accuracy and efficiency, and Croatia are no exception. They too have been suffering from the same problem as their attempts are not even on target to begin with. During their clash against Czech Republic, Croatia had a total of 11 attempts; but only 2 of those attempts were on target.

At least those two were efficient enough to give them a goal and equalize the game. While they started the tournament with a 4-3-3 formation against England, Zlatko Dalic switched to a 4-3-2-1, or a 4-5-1 formation and the results spoke for themselves. Dalic might one again opt to use the same 4-5-1 formation in order to have more control in the midfield and not let Scotland players launch a sudden counter-attack.

Croatia possible line up

: Livakovic; Sime Vrsaljko, Dejan Lovren, Vida, Gvardiol; Luka Modric, Brozovic, Matteo Kovacic; Ivanusec, Ivan Perisic; Petkovic

On the other side of the pitch stands Scotland who started their Euro 2020 campaign with a 2-0 defeat against Czech Republic. But while it was

who gave Czech Republic the lead with two brilliant goals, Scotland actually had superiority on all grounds as they had more shots, more possession and more passes. The only thing they lacked was accuracy and efficiency. Throughout the match, they had 4 shots on target, even though they had a total of 19 attempts. But Czech Republic had 7 shots on target, despite only having a total of 10 attempts.

Come the second game and Steve Clarke opted to use a 3-4-1-2 formation against England, which paid dividends as they secured a crucial point against the obvious favorites. This time they had much less possession of the ball and much fewer passes, but they still let go of the ball too early as they had a total of 11 attempts, with only 2 of them making it on target. Scotland will have to work on their accuracy and try to keep the ball just a bit longer before taking a shot if they want to have any chance against Croatia.

Scotland possible line up

: David Marshall; Hendry, Grant Hanley, Kieran Tierney; O'Donnell, Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, McGinn, Andy Robertson; Lyndon Dykes, Che Adams

Croatia v Scotland: head-to-head in all competitions

The two nations have locked horns on the football pitch a total of five times, with one of them being an international friendly. The other four meetings between the two sides were during the 2002 and 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. While the first three games, including the friendly, ended in 1-1 or 0-0 draws, their last two matches have ended in Scotland’s favor. They have in fact managed to pull a 1-0 and a 2-0 victory against Croatia.

Prediction

If history is about to repeat itself, then Scotland can snatch yet another victory. But on paper, Croatia seem to slightly have the upper hands. Even though anything can happen, Croatia are probably the favorites to win.

Croatia v Scotland referees

Argentinian referee Fernando Andres Rapallini will officiate the game with the help of his two compatriots Juan Belatti and Diego Bonfa. Alejando Hernandez will act as VAR1, with Jose Maria Sanchez and Inigo Prieto acting as VAR 2 and 3.Bartosz Frankowski will be the fourth official.

Viewing information

• Date

  : Tuesday, 22 June

• Kick off tim

  e: 21:00 CET

• Location

  : Hampden Park, Glasgow

• TV

  : TRT 1, TRT Spor, BBC Sport

• Live stream

  : ESPN+, beIN Sports Connect

• Odds

  : Croatia (+125), Draw (+260), Scotland (+190)

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