After having shocked France on Thursday evening in the first-leg in Split by a score line of 2-0, Croatia simply need to finish the job in Sunday’s second leg in Paris, to reach the final four tournament of the Nations League. Last Word on Football brings you our Croatia predicted lineup for the match.
Croatia Predicted Lineup vs France
How Croatia Have Lined Up Recently
In that big first-leg victory, Croatia lined up as follows: Dominik Livaković was in goal, while the backline consisted of Josip Stanišić, Duje Ćaleta-Car, Josip Šutalo, and Joško Gvardiol. Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić played in the holding midfield positions, as Ivan Perišić, Martin Baturina, Andrej Kramarić, and Ante Budimir made up the front four.
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Coach Zlatko Dalić used a 4-2-3-1 formation this time around. He usually does not have one formation, which he always goes back to. This makes a lineup prediction all the more difficult.
Croatia Recent Form and Tactics
Spirits in the Croatia camp are high, after the win in the first-leg, which was only the second-ever victory against France, despite the fact that the two sides have often played each other over the years. Beyond that, there cannot be much talk of form of course, as the national team hasn’t played together since November before that.
As stated above, Dalić is far from being an open book, when it comes to his tactics. He has used the 4-2-3-1 formation sometimes while playing with a 4-3-3, or even with a back three on other occasions. The 4-2-3-1 has worked very well in the first leg, therefore we will assume that he keeps that in place for the second.
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Since the French like to hit their opponents on the counter attack, Croatia will again prefer to let Les Blues have the ball at times. Dalić has fared the best in his meetings with Didier Deschamps when possession was more or less even. Conversely, in the 2018 World Cup final, Croatia had most of the ball, and the French counter-attacked with brutal efficiency.
Croatia Injuries to Consider
As of this writing, there are no known injuries to the players in the current squad.
Croatia Predicted Lineup vs France
Livaković, Stanišić, Šutalo, Ćaleta-Car, Gvardiol, Kovačić, Modrić; Perišić, Baturina, Kramarić, Budimir.