June 17, 2021 - The Czech Republic and Croatia meet in Glasgow on Friday for their second Group D match.
The day before the big clash with the Czech Republic, Zlatko Dalic and Dejan Lovren appeared in front of journalists, meaning that the head of defense returned to the Croatia squad, reports Jutarnji List.
There has been a lot of speculation in recent days about the lineup for the Czech Republic, which Croatia must beat to advance to the second round. Lovren has been training at full speed again in recent days after an injury, and it is now clear that he will still start in the 2nd round and help Croatia in the hunt for their first points at the EURO.
Croatia lost in the first round to England (1:0), and the Czech Republic beat Scotland (2:0).
"Every defeat is hard for everyone, including us, even if it was at Wembley to England. We know that everything is still in our hands, we have a good atmosphere, and we desperately need the right result. I am optimistic about the matches against England and Belgium in which we were equal with the best teams in the world. We miss the attacking game; if we don’t fix it, we won’t do well. Therefore, we will put a more offensive team, play over the flanks and look for one-on-one actions. Everyone is ready except Barišić," said Zlatko Dalić to begin.
"There will be some changes in the lineup because we will arrange the game a little more offensively. We miss finishing and breakthroughs. I was the first to say that we were too weak in London, that we didn't have enough players to finish, that we lacked one-on-one breakthroughs. Without chances and goals, of course, there are no results."
Does the team have a winning spirit?
"We are not in a comfortable situation like the Czechs; we need a victory that would give us even more self-confidence. The guys are aware of that. I do not see any problems in that regard; we are motivated, we are ready."
He then pointed out something else:
"We are in a tough situation because we play away, without our fans who are our strength, without them, we are in a huge deficit, and we really miss that. Look at Denmark's support. Half of the teams play at home, we travel. It is not fair to us that there will be so few spectators in the stands."
A Scottish journalist asked Dalic about Borna Barišić and whether his absence was a great loss.
"It is a great pity for us that he is injured. He played great for the Rangers; when he arrived for the preparations, he got injured again, and he was not in the right shape and completely ready. We left him at home to prepare better; we need him for Scotland. So we have to give another player a chance."
On adapting from warm Rovinj to cold Glasgow, he said:
"We had nice weather in Rovinj; it was too hot in London and tough to run, it will be easier to play here in Glasgow. We will do our best."
Stopper Dejan Lovren has recovered from an injury that kept him out of games for a long time.
"I feel perfect, I am positive, I am available to the coach. I’m ready to play, and the coach decides. We expect a pretty tough game, but we have to play it the right way," said Lovren.
What kind of match can we expect?
"I expect a hard game. They feel more comfortable. They have a team that has been playing for years. We have to play smart, to do everything that the coach asks of us. No calculation, let's go for three points."
What do you expect between England and Scotland?
"We are not a team that will look at the other, only if we have to. We depend only on ourselves, and that is most important. We will concentrate on the Czech Republic. Everything is in our hands. It will not be easy for England against Scotland."
Lovren said he has been following Euro matches.
"I don't have anything smarter to do. We can single out France and Italy, and the biggest favorite, in my opinion, is France. However, Italy is also extraordinary, at the moment among the three best teams," concluded Lovren.
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