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Croatia will aim to move on from their opening-day defeat to England when they take on the Czech Republic in Group D at Hampden Park Stadium on Friday.
The Czech Republic currently sit at the summit of the group following Monday’s 2-0 win over Scotland and will aim to build on that impressive performance.
Croatia fell to a 1-0 defeat against England in their opening Euro 2020 game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
After holding the Three Lions goalless in the first half, Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling produced a moment of brilliance to score in the 57th minute.
Zlatko Dalic’s men have struggled for results in recent outings, suffering two defeats and one draw from their last three games across all competitions.
The Czech Republic, on the other hand, got their Euro campaign started in emphatic style as they claimed a 2-0 win over Scotland on Monday.
Bayer Leverkusen forward Patrik Schick put on a performance of the highest quality, scoring a brace to end Czech Republic’s four-game winless run in the fixture. That brace included a candidate for goal of the tournament.
Jaroslav Šilhavý’s men are currently at the top of Group B, ahead of second-placed England on goal difference.
Croatia vs Czech Republic Head-To-Head
Croatia have been dominant against Czech Republic. They are unbeaten in this fixture, claiming two wins and one draw from their three encounters with the visitors.
Their last meeting came at the 2016 European Championship, when both sides shared the spoils in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Croatia Form Guide (all competitions): W-W-D-L-L
Czech Republic Form Guide (all competitions): D-L-L-W-W
Croatia vs Czech Republic Team News
With no injuries or suspension concerns, Croatia head into this crunch tie with a full strength squad. Borna Barisic missed the game against England due to fitness issues but is expected to return to the fold on Friday.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Czech Republic
Meanwhile, the visitors will be without the services of forward Lukáš Provod, who is nursing an injury. We expect head coach Jaroslav Šilhavý to stick with his starting XI from last time out after their superb performance against Scotland.
Injured: Lukáš Provod
Suspended: None
Croatia vs Czech Republic Predicted XI
Croatia Predicted XI (4-3-3): Dominik Livaković; Šime Vrsaljko, Domagoj Vida, Duje Ćaleta-Car, Joško Gvardiol; Luka Modrić, Marcelo Brozović, Mateo Kovačić; Andrej Kramarić, Ante Rebić, Ivan Perisic
Czech Republic Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Tomáš Vaclík; Vladimír Coufal, Ondřej Čelůstka, Tomáš Kalas, Jan Bořil; Alex Král, Tomáš Souček; Lukáš Masopust, Vladimír Darida, Jakub Jankto; Patrik Schick
Croatia vs Czech Republic Prediction
Given the stakes of the game, this will likely be a close and entertaining contest. However, the Croatians have had the clear upper hand in this fixture and we predict they will maintain their fine run of results against the visitors.
Prediction: Croatia 2-0 Czech Republic
