Spain vs Croatia

Spain takes on Croatia at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in what many are touting as the standout fixture of the first round of Euro 2024 on Saturday. Luis de la Fuente led his side to a near-perfect qualification for this tournament in Group A, with the only hiccup being that shock 2-0 loss to Scotland. However, to top the group comfortably, they won all of their remaining games, including a 2-0 avenging defeat of the Scots. This definitely isn’t as strong a Spain squad as we’re used to seeing, and the midfield looks weak; they do have the ever-reliable Alvaro Morata in attack, though.

In contrast to their opponents here, Croatia’s qualification campaign left much to be desired. In the end, they limped over the line, eventually finishing second to Turkey in Group D. Joško Gvardiol will be coming into this on a high, having won the English Premier League in his first season with new club Manchester City. There are some aging statesmen in their squad, however, with the likes of Luka Modric, Domagoj Vida and Ivan Perisic mostly likely playing their last tournaments. This could turn out to be the difference between the sides.

These two met at the last 16 stages of Euro 2020, and after a thrilling 3-3 draw in 90 minutes, the game went to extra time. However, Spain prevailed 5-3 at the end of that, and this Croatia team is now significantly older. The Spanish are incredibly patient in possession and will happily frustrate their opponents for long periods of time, so don’t be surprised if we see a low-scoring affair here. For that reason, we suggest backing Spain to win 1-0, with a little punt from Alvaro Morata to score the game’s first goal.

See the table with our top picks below:

Also, do not skip checking our predictions for the rest of Saturday’s matches: Hungary vs Switzerland and Italy vs Albania.