The coach of the Azzurri’s opponents knows what awaits them: “We will try to stay calm, not to fall into their game, preventing them from taking it into their hands”
If atItaly even a draw would be enough Croatia is forced to win to continue the dream of Euro 2024. The coach also knows this well Zlatko Dalic, who charges his team on the eve of the Leipzig match. “We know well what our situation is: we just have to win to avoid going home too early. That’s what we don’t want, and we’re ready. Every match is difficult, everyone is in shape except Vida who won’t be available”, said the Croatian technical commissioner.
“Spalletti is an excellent coach, I congratulate him on his successes: Italy only needs one point, we will try not to let them do that – added Dalic -. We will try to remain calm, not to fall into their game, preventing them to keep it in hand, not to give in to any football provocation. We are ready.”
“So far we haven’t played at our level – admitted the Croatian coach -. Compared to Qatar, the problem is that we concede too many goals, we have already conceded five”. And again: “It’s true that we have old players, but age doesn’t matter. We are ready and focused on Italy, tomorrow with honor we will wear our national team’s shirt on the field”,
KOVACIC: “MODRIC? HAPPY HE’S WITH US”
Alongside Dalic, the former Inter player Mateo Kovacic who was asked about Luka Modrid’s possible last match. “We are not thinking about that. We are happy that he is with us, but now we are only thinking about the match against Italy,” he said. “There are old players, they exist, but the important thing is how it feels. In the first two games we didn’t demonstrate our value, but we’ve done it many times in the past and we hope to do it again tomorrow. Then everyone has their opinion , he can write what he wants, but for us it is always a great honor to wear this shirt”, he added.
Kovacic will meet Spalletti and other old comrades ofInter: “He is a coach I respect a lot, he has achieved phenomenal results and tomorrow we expect a great Italy. I will be happy to see many of my former teammates on the pitch tomorrow, especially Jorginho with whom I played for a long time. Italy has taught me a lot , from a tactical and defensive point of view. I had three different coaches and they helped me a lot in my career: at the time I wasn’t very good in defense and the move to Italy helped me a lot to improve.”
