In the opening game of Group B, two heavyweights will set the tone for the so-called ”group of death” – Spain and Croatia. The Spaniards, along with Germany are the most decorated national team at the Euros. For Croatia, this edition of the tournament is the last hurrah for the country’s golden generation, the very same one that was runners-up in the 2018 World Cup and third in the 2022 one.
Spain Team News
While Luis de la Fuente’s team enters this game as a favourite, they will be facing a team that can be described as an overachiever in the last years. Still, Spain easily toppled their qualifying group and in the preparatory friendlies before the Euro won convincingly against Andorra and Northern Ireland. In both of those games La Furia Roja scored 5 goals, but Northern Ireland also conceded one. That clean sheet against Andorra was Spain’s only one across their last 6 fixtures pointing to a less-than-stable defensive output. And if there is one thing that this Croatia side likes to punish is shaky defences.
Croatia Team News
Qualification for Croatia was not as easy, as the team finished as runner-up in their group behind Turkey. Despite this somewhat troublesome qualification, Zlatko Dalic’s men managed to prepare in quite a spectacular fashion – a win over Northern Macedonia 3-0 and another high-profile victory over a highly-rated Portugal side with 1-2. For some of the stars of this Croatia team like Luka Modric, this European Championship will be the last high-profile international tournament and henceforth their last chance for more silverware or an international trophy for their country.
Head-to-Head-Games
There is a good sample size of head-to-head battles between Spain and Croatia, and quite recent ones too. Four of the last 5 fixtures between them featured over 2.5 goals and 3 saw scoring done from both sides. It is Croatia that has 2 victories and somewhat of an advantage as opposed to Spain’s mere one.
Spain – Croatia Betting Prediction
While Spain is touted as a favourite here, Croatia are not to be underestimated. This team has made a name for itself by defying the odds and predictions and heavily overachieving in recent tournaments. Croatia is a very strictly coached team, one that can punish mistakes in an instant. Spain for all of their technical players and tiki-taka possession style of play does suffer from frequent defensive errors. The fact that their only clean sheet in their last 6 games came against Andorra is a testament to that. And against Croatia, Spain has conceded 3 goals in 2 of their last 3 meetings. But at the same time, La Furia Roja has also displayed their propensity to score heaps of goals when needed. The same can be said for Croatia too, albeit to a lesser extent. Thus, my pick here is for both teams to score.
Betting Tip: Both Teams To Score: Yes
Bookmaker: Sportsbet.io
Odds: 1.97
Sportsbet.io
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