Croatia ‘not afraid’ of Spain, says Kovacic

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Mateo Kovacic insists Croatia are “not afraid of anyone” as they prepare to face world champions Spain in the Nations League.

Spain are the dominant figure in world football at the moment, having clinched their second World Cup over the summer with a 1-0 win over Argentina in the final.

They are currently on a 39-match unbeaten streak (across 90 minutes (W30 D9), the longest such run by a European nation in history.

Croatia won their opening Nations League match 2-1 against Czechia, and sit level on points with Spain, who enjoyed a 3-2 comeback win over England.

But as perhaps expected, Spain are heavy favourites in this clash, with the Opta supercomputer assigning them a 78.3% win probability to Croatia’s 8.4%.

Kovacic, however, is not shying away from the challenge ahead of the team.

“Of course. Spain, right now, is the best team in the world,” he said. “There’s nothing better than playing against the best.

“It will be a difficult match against the best team in the world. But it will be difficult for them too. We have played against them several times, and sometimes we have done very well. Hopefully, we can repeat that.

“We’re not afraid of anyone. We respect everyone. Spain is a very strong team. They’re very united. They’re a top team, but we’ll focus on our own game.”

Next stop An encounter with the world champions! #ESPCRO

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Asked if getting a win on Tuesday would be impossible, Kovacic said: “No.

“We know about the 39 games without losing, but I don’t want to dwell on that; I want to focus on our game and take the ball away from them.”

Spain are unbeaten in their last three meetings with Croatia, winning two and drawing the other – though they eventually won that match on penalties in the Nations League.

Croatia’s last win against Spain did come in this competition, winning 3-2 back in November 2018.

And Slaven Bilic is confident Spain are not unbeatable if Croatia can get their game plan right.

“Spain has some strengths that can be exploited, as England showed,” Bilic said.

“We don’t need a miracle; we need faith. We’ve played great matches against them. Matches are long.

“Against the Czechs, there were moments when we didn’t know how to suffer. We can’t repeat that. We know they’ll have possession, but it can’t always be theirs.

“We must have confidence in what we do, in ourselves.”

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