Zlatko Dalić Ahead of Spain: Who Will Replace Ivan Perišić?

Croatia will play the EURO 2020 round of 16 match against Spain on Monday at 6 pm in Copenhagen. Today, a press conference was held at which coach Zlatko Dalić and midfielder Marcelo Brozovic addressed the press, reports Jutarnji List.

The main topic was the match against Spain, although most questions were related to Ivan Perišić dropping out of the Euros after he tested positive for COVID-19. 

Perišić has to be isolated for ten days, which means he would miss the other knockout phases until the final. 

Zlatko Dalić announced that he will not change the concept of the game, which proved to be a winner, and that he has a real replacement for Ivan Perišić.

“I spoke to Perišić, he is upset, it’s a shock, at the last minute we were left without the best player from the group stage. We have to adapt to that. He will be our fan. God willing that everything will be fine and we will pass, so he will join us in 7-8 days. We will play for him too. It is not easy for him, he lived for it, he is in great shape, he scored two goals, but it happened,” said Dalić for Perišić and added:

“Spain certainly arranged the game so that they have a more defensive player on that side who would dedicate himself to Perišić. Now they might change that and put in a more offensive one again. We will go with the player who is most similar to Ivan.”

Dalić did not say who will play on the left wing.

“I have said before that we have the best selection of players in that position. There is Brekalo, Rebić, and Oršić, who play it naturally in their clubs. If we agreed differently, Kramarić and Ivanušec are here. We are going for a natural solution; we will not think much; I believe that the replacement will be of good quality. Hard to be on the level of Perišić, but he can give a lot. So we’re not going to change much because we’re going to have to spin a couple of players; we’re going to play with the same option as it was before.”

Is there a fear that there will be more infected?

“It was a shock for all of us, but we have been living under stress for more than a month. We are ready for that, we adhere to everything, and we are not afraid of anything. We do everything to prevent that from happening. I hope that it won’t disturb us a lot and that we are ready for the game.”

Spain is quite confident. Do you follow their media?

“We should not care who says what, whether someone underestimates us or not. We respect everyone, especially Spain, which is one of the best teams in Europe by tradition, and they are not happy to play with us either. We will not underestimate them; we will be maximally motivated and responsible, and it will be seen who is best in the end. We know what we want; it’s to move forward.”

Will Ćaleta-Car play stopper?

“We will not change much; that is evident. If we rotated more positions to the players, that would not be acceptable for this game. It’s not my idea; it’s not my experiment. Let’s go with the same game.”

This time, Croatia will have the real support of the fans.

“It will be much nicer and more pleasant than in the first three games where it was really hard. The fans mean a lot to us, and we will do everything not to disappoint them.”

One Spanish journalist asked Dalić if he agreed with Ivica Olić that the odds are 50:50 or is Spain still the favorite?

“We are playing against an excellent national team, but we can’t say they are better than us. Although I have huge respect for the Spain coach and a team that knows what it wants. I believe in our team. But I don’t want to say we are worse than anyone; the chances are equal.”

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