Croatia vs Albania Match Prediction
European Championship
Volksparkstadion
Croatia, in their game, defended poorly and also had an off day in their attack. The space to allow Fabian to thread the ball into Morata for the first goal was really poor. Kovacic was denied by Unai Simon in good fashion. Fabian once again, for the second goal, got too easily past the Croatian players for the second goal. Poor marking allowed Carvajal to tap in Yamal’s cross from a short corner. In the second, Croatia missed another bulk of chances, including a penalty that was tapped in on the rebound, only to be ruled out by VAR for encroachment.
Bajrami shocked the entire nation of Italy by scoring in 20 seconds. The spark fizzled out for Albania after that, as they could not break Italy down. Italy turned the game around in the first half itself, with goals from Bastoni and Barella. The Albanians had nothing much, with their best chance of equalising coming right in the end as Donnarumma made a good save to deny Manaj’s cross-shot from going in.
Facts:
- Croatia were handed a big defeat by Spain in the opening game of the competition. Croatia, however, has not been handed back-to-back defeats in the Euros for quite a while now. The last time they lost two games on the trot in the group stages was in the 1996 Euros when they were defeated by Portugal and Germany.
- Albania in the 2016 Euros won their first game of the group by a goal to nil and have since lost three consecutive games, including the defeat against Italy in their first fixture of Euro 2024. Albania, in their only three games of Euro 2016, scored just one goal. They have already matched that tally in just one game in Euro 2024 by scoring against Italy.
- Croatia has not been in the best of form when it comes to playing in competitive games. Their win ratio has taken a massive hit recently, as they have won just two of their last five competitive games. In this run, they have lost to the likes of Turkey, Spain, and Wales. Before this run, this team lost three in 29 competitive games.
- Albania, in the last year, as per their standards, has been on a good competitive run. That was halted when they were defeated by Italy in the first game of the Euros. Before this defeat, however, Albania lost their last game nearly a year ago, when they were defeated by Poland in March 2023. Italy ended a 7-game unbeaten run by Albania, in which they had 4 wins and 3 draws.
- Luka Modric, as per his standards, had a pretty poor performance against Spain and was hooked off after a total of 65 minutes. The Real Madrid midfielder, however, still managed to make the most line-breaking passes of any player on the pitch with 13.
Croatia vs Albania: Chance of Winning
When it comes to the head-to-head record between these two teams, there is no past record to draw from. This will be the first ever meeting between Albania and Croatia in a football game. Albania has never had the best of records when it comes to facing nations for the first time. In their last 10 games playing against a new opponent, Albania have managed to just beat one nation, and that is the Faroe Islands. They have drawn five and lost four of the remaining 10 games.
Croatia had a good performance against Spain. They just now should not allow their heads to drop and come back with a strong performance. Croatia has the personnel to get the job done, especially against teams like Albania. They, however, need to take their chances and be more clinical. Being wasteful is what cost them the game against Spain.
When it comes to Albania, they need to add more to their game. Their game plan of getting the early goal and sitting back did not work against Italy, and it would surely not work against Croatia as well. The Albanian attack will need to do better on the counter, and Croatia, as seen in the first game, tends to open up quite frequently. All things considered, Croatia have a much better shot of winning this game against Albania.
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Spain vs Albania: Predictions and Betting Tips
According to the bookmakers, Croatia goes into this game as heavy favourites to win this tie against Albania. Both teams go into this game on the back of defeats in their first-round fixtures. The bookies in this instance favour Croatia because they did indeed play well against Spell, with the scoreline being slightly misleading. Albania continues to be a massive underdog.
Croatia, in their first game against Spain, actually did quite well. They did have more of the ball than Spain, which is actually surprising. Croatia had an expected goal tally of 2.38 in the game and yet could not score a single goal, showing how it just wasn’t their day. Croatia also had way more shots on goal in comparison to Spain. Against a team like Albania, we can see them converting these chances. They will, however, need to be lethal on the attack. We do expect goals here.
Albania, on the other hand, got their game started perfectly; however, they could not capitalise on that lead as they allowed Italy to get into the game. Albania had just one short on target, which was the goal that came in the 20th second. They also only had 31% possession in the entire game. They created a total of 5 chances, with their expected goal tally being 0.65.
Based on these numbers and past fixtures taken into account, here are our tips and predictions for this game. We expect this game to have goals, but just on one side. We expect Croatia to outright dominate the ball in this game. Croatia dominated possession against a top Spanish team, so they will do very well to retain the ball against Albania. Croatia to have more than 60% of the possession is our pick.
Our prediction here is for Croatia to score two or more goals in this game. They were very unlucky against Spain and should have had at least one goal through the penalty. Their expected goal ratio in that game was healthy, as they were creating a tonne of chances. Croatia to also win this game by a margin of 2 or more goals is our pick. Albania scored early, but since then they have not been able to break Italy’s resolve. We expect Croatia to also be defensively stable in this game. Hence, we do ask Croatia to keep a clean sheet here. We do not see Albania scoring in this one.
For Croatia, in terms of scoring, we back Budimir to score for them in this game. The striker was very unlucky in not finding the back of the net in the first game, but we do expect him to find his stride against this Albanian defence. Mateo Kovacic was also good in the game against Spain, especially in terms of his creativity. Kovacic has now created 14 chances in his last three major competitions for Croatia. We back Kovacic to get an anytime assist in this game.
For Albania, Nadim Bajrami has constantly been their biggest threat when it comes to scoring goals. Bajrami has either scored or assisted for the Eagles in each of his last three games. The striker has scored and assisted two goals each in his last three games for his country. He also became the player to score the fastest goal ever in a Euro competition when he netted in 20 seconds against Italy.
Final Prediction:Croatia to beat Albania
Croatia Player List
Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic, Ivica Ivusic, Nediljko Labrovic
Defenders: Domagoj Vida, Josip Juranovic, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sosa, Josip Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Martin Erlic, Marin Pongracic
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, Mario Pasalic, Nikola Vlasic, Lovro Majer, Luka Ivanusec, Luka Sucic, Martin Baturina
Attackers:Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Bruno Petkovic, Marko Pjaca, Ante Budimir, Marco Pasalic
Croatia Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Dominik Livakovic |
Goalkeeper |
|
Josip Stanisic |
Defender |
|
Josip Sutalo |
Defender |
|
Marin Pongracic |
Defender |
|
Josko Gvardiol |
Defender |
|
Luka Modric |
Midfielder |
|
Matteo Kovacic |
Midfielder |
|
Marcelo Brozovic |
Midfielder |
|
Lovro Majer |
Midfielder |
|
Andrej Kramaric |
Attacker |
|
Ante Budimir |
Attacker |
Croatia Team Form(Last five games): L, W, W, D, W
Albania Player List
Goalkeepers: Etrit Berisha, Thomas Strakosha, Elhan Kastrati
Defenders:Berat Djimsiti, Elseid Hysaj, Ivan Balliu, Ardian Ismajli, Arlind Ajeti, Naser Aliji, Mario Mitaj, Enea Mihaj, Marash Kumbulla.
Midfielders:Amir Abrashi, Kristjan Asllani, Nedim Bajrami, Medon Berisha, Klaus Gjasula, Qazim Laci, Ernest Muci, Ylber Ramadani.
Forwards:Jasir Asani, Armando Broja, Mirlind Daku, Arber Hoxha, Rey Manaj, Taulant Seferi
Albania Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Thomas Strakosha |
Goalkeeper |
|
Ivan Balliu |
Defender |
|
Ardian Ismajli |
Defender |
|
Berat Djimsiti |
Defender |
|
Mario Mitaj |
Defender |
|
Nedim Bajrami |
Midfielder |
|
Kristjan Asllani |
Midfielder |
|
Medon Berisha |
Midfielder |
|
Jasir Asani |
Attacker |
|
Armando Broja |
Attacker |
|
Mirlind Daku |
Attacker |
Albania Team Form(Last five games): L, W, W, L, L
Croatia vs Albania Head-To-Head
Matches Played:0
Croatia wins:0
Albania wins:0
Matches are drawn:0
Croatia vs Albania Betting Odds
Croatia to win the match (PARIMATCH): 1.48.
Albania to win the match (PARIMATCH): 7.91.
Match to end in a draw (PARIMATCH): 4.38.
The betting odds have been calculated based on team performances in previous matches, player records etc. Odds are subject to change.
Our Prediction
Favorites to win
Croatia
The Eagles could not capitalise on their dream start against Italy. They ceded the game to the Azzurri, and then once they conceded, they were not coming back. Croatia will need their bigger players, Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic, to step up. Brozovic was also quite poor on the day. But all in all, we do see a victory for Croatia in this game. Our prediction is a 2-0 win for Croatia on Wednesday.
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