Comments and predictions for Croatia vs France: Mbappe finishes off the home team
The match between Croatia vs France in the Nations League takes place at 1:45 a.m. on March 21. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes performance, makes football comments and predicts the score.
A rematch of the 2018 World Cup final will be the focus at Stadion Poljud in Split on Thursday evening, as Croatia host France in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final.
The winner of this tie will face either the Netherlands or Spain in the semi-finals in June.
Latest Croatia vs France squad information
Croatia will be without midfielders Luka Sucic and Lovro Majer, as well as striker Igor Matanovic, due to injury. Meanwhile, Bruno Petkovic has recovered from a long-term hip injury but has not been called up this time.
At 39, Real Madrid captain Luka Modric is looking to make his 185th international appearance and could partner Manchester City's Mateo Kovacic and Dinamo Zagreb's Petar Sucic in midfield. Sucic has completed his suspension and is ready to return to the starting line-up.
Croatia's defence is likely to be led by the duo of Josko Gvardiol and Josip Sutalo, while up front, Ivan Perisic – the current squad's top scorer with 33 goals – could start alongside Andrej Kramaric and Martin Baturina.
On the French side, striker Marcus Thuram (Inter Milan) withdrew from the team due to an ankle injury, and coach Didier Deschamps decided not to call up a replacement.
Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) returns to the team after two recent absences. He can join the attack with Michael Olise, Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele - who is in good form.
Deschamps will have to choose between Theo Hernandez and Lucas Digne for the left-back position, while Adrien Rabiot is almost certain to start in midfield after his impressive performance of two goals and an assist in the 3-1 win over Italy in November, marking the milestone of 50 international caps.
Latest expected lineup for Croatia vs France
Croatia:
Livakovic; Juranovic, Caleta-Car, Sutalo, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Modric, P. Sucic; Perisic, Kramaric, Baturina
France:
Maignan; Kounde, Konate, Saliba, Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Mbappe; Kolo Muani
Latest Croatia vs France football commentary
After being eliminated from Euro 2024 in the group stage, Croatia earned eight points from six matches (W2 D2 L2) to finish second in Group A1 of the Nations League in the second half of last year.
Zlatko Dalic's side failed to win their last three group games (D2 L1), including a 0-1 defeat to Scotland sandwiched between draws with Poland (3-3) and Portugal (1-1). However, they still qualified for the knockout stages despite not being in the best form.
Ranked 13th in the world by FIFA, Croatia almost won the Nations League title in 2023 when they lost 4-5 to Spain on penalties in the final after 120 goalless minutes.
Croatia will be looking to take advantage of home advantage in the first leg against France on Thursday, having lost just one of their last seven home games in all competitions, keeping five clean sheets and conceding just two goals in that run.
However, the plaid team has never really had the upper hand against France, winning just one of their last 10 encounters. That lone win, however, was the most recent meeting between the two teams in the 2022 Nations League, when Croatia won 1-0 away in March 2022.
On the French side, although Spain is the current Nations League and Euro champion, it is the French team that is the highest-ranked European country on the FIFA rankings, second in the world after 2022 World Cup champion Argentina.
Didier Deschamps has been in charge of Les Bleus for nearly 13 years, winning 105 of his 165 games (a 63.64% win rate). However, the 56-year-old has confirmed he will leave his post after the 2026 World Cup.
France have significantly improved their record from the 2023 Nations League, as they qualified for the group stage with 13 points from six matches (W4 D1 L1) in Group A2, surpassing Italy on head-to-head record.
Les Bleus are now targeting a second Nations League title under Deschamps, having won the 2020-21 tournament. They head into the game in Split on the back of impressive away form, having won their last three away games by a combined score of 9-3, including victories over Belgium and Italy.
Despite failing to beat Croatia in the previous Nations League group stage (D1 L1), France did so in the 2020 tournament, including a 2-1 win in Zagreb. They also beat Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 World Cup final in Russia.
Latest Croatia vs France score prediction
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.Croatia vs Franceas follows:
- Sportsmole:Croatia 1-2 France
- WhoScore:Croatia 0-2 France
- Our newspaper predicts:Croatia 1-2 France
When and where to watch Croatia vs France live?
To watch live the match Croatia vs France in the Nations League taking place at 1:45 a.m. on March 21, viewers can watch onK+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. Wish you have fun watching football.
