Croatia and Spain face each other on Monday at 6 p.m. for a round of 16 which seems very difficult to predict.
Unbridled attacks or padlocked game?
The two teams have in any case a lot to prove in Copenhagen and this meeting will leave an outsider to the mat before the quarter-finals.
Very smart the one who can predict the outcome of this promising and open Croatia-Spain.
Monday, on the lawn of the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the Croats of Luka Modric will they foil a Spanish collective without a big star?
Will the Iberians know how to achieve their control over the game against a team that had beaten them in groups at Euro 2016 (2-1)?
So many questions for this round of 16 of the Euro, the winner of which will face that of the match between France and Switzerland.
Europe 1 presents this round of 16 for ambitious outsiders.
The rise: two teams who finished their group stage well
Admittedly, neither of these two teams finished in first place in their group, which was nevertheless not an impossible task (England and the Czech Republic for Croatia, Sweden and Slovakia for Spain) .
But after having sluggishly started the competition, Croats and Spaniards of course reacted on the third day to validate their ticket for the elimination phase.
>> Listen to Europe 1 Football Club in replay and podcast here
On the one hand, the Croats dominated Scotland 3-1 to finish in extremis in second place in Group D. On the other, Spain was able to raise its level of play to crush Slovakia 5-0, in what is currently the only real box of this Euro.
It is therefore possible to expect goals on Monday evening, especially as the collectives seem fitter and more polished than two weeks ago.
The essential player: Modric, the maestro still there
At 35, he is still the soul of his team, his master at playing, the one who can get him out of the deadlock.
The indestructible Luka Modric struck again, during the last group match.
Hanging on by a valiant Scottish team, the Vatreni relied on the outside of the silky foot of its playmaker on the hour mark, to gain the advantage and not leave the competition.
Against Spain, the country where he plays for Real Madrid, the Croatian will again have to multiply to undermine a Spanish midfield which is taking its marks.
And unlike 2018, the 2018 Ballon d'Or will not be able to count on the help of retired Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic.
The question: what if Morata woke up to the Croats?
In the group stage, Spain was able to defend well, with only one goal conceded, despite the absences of Gérard Piqué and especially Sergio Ramos. It is rather in attack that his face is less attractive, with a lot of criticism against Alvaro Morata, holder but silent in Seville during the first three matches. Whistled by the Andalusian public, object of threats since the start of the Euro, will the Juventus striker Turin take advantage of a match away from Spain to open his counter and bring Spain to the quarter-finals? In the case of a qualification of the French against the Swiss, the men of Didier Deschamps would have everything to fear from a Roja led by an invigorated Morata.