Croatia’s captain praises Türkiye, cautious over EURO qualifying match

By Hilmi Sever

OSIJEK, Croatia (AA) - Croatia national team captain Luka Modric praised their opponents Türkiye on Wednesday ahead of a UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying group match at home, saying it will be "very difficult."

"A very difficult match against a very good team awaits us tomorrow. Türkiye is a great team. We always respect them,” Modric said in a pre-match press conference.

"We played against Türkiye many times, and these matches were always very difficult and their results were unpredictable.”

He said they want to win against Türkiye in their new stadium, Opus Arena in Osijek, and it is certain that Croatia will play against "a great and very high-quality team.”

Opened in July, Opus Arena, the most modern stadium in Croatia, can host at least 13,000 fans.

Modric also paid tribute to his Turkish teammate at Real Madrid, Arda Guler, saying the 18-year-old attacking midfielder is a "very talented player and has a bright future" in the game.

He added that Guler has been injured, so the Turkish youngster was unable to show his skills on the pitch.

Türkiye will visit Croatia in a EURO 2024 group qualifying match Thursday evening.

Croatia have 10 points to lead Group D, but they have a game in hand. Second-place Türkiye have 10 points in five matches.

Armenia and Wales have seven points each. Underdogs Latvia lost all five of their matches to be eliminated.

The best two teams from each group will qualify for the EURO 2024. Host nation Germany have qualified automatically.

Meanwhile, Türkiye head coach Vincenzo Montella, who was hired in September, said the Croatia game will be "a very important test" for the Turkish team.

"Our opponent is third in the world rankings. We are prepared for everything,” he said.

Montella was appointed for the Türkiye job after Stefan Kuntz had been dismissed.

Türkiye and Croatia are familiar to each other as the sides have met 11 times since 1996, including three friendlies.

Croatia have won four games out of 11 and six others ended as a draw.

Türkiye beat Croatia once, defeating them 1-0 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup European qualifier match held in 2017.

In the EURO 2024 qualifying group, Croatia won the first match 2-0 in Bursa in March as midfielder Mateo Kovacic scored double to upset Türkiye.