Croatia and Austria will both be looking to kick off the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League on the front foot when they go head-to-head at Osijek’s Gradsku vrt Stadium on Friday.
With France and Denmark joining Croatia and Austria in Group A1, it will be extremely difficult to either side to secure a place in the Nations League finals. But it is not impossible.
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Last term, Croatia narrowly avoided defeat to Group B on goal difference. Meanwhile, Austria secured promotion to Group A after winning their group.
Croatia head into Friday’s clash on a nine-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, having picked up six wins and three draws since their last loss.
After losing just one of their ten FIFA World Cup qualifiers, they finished one point clear at the top of their group to punch their ticket to Qatar 2022.
However, the Croatians will be eager to bounce back from a disappointing European Championship campaign after crashing out of last summer’s tournament in the round of 16.
Having scored a combined total of 19 goals across their previous seven outings, Croatia will fancy their chances of finding the back of the net on Friday.
As for Austria, they find themselves in top tier of the Nations League following promotion from the second tier in 2020-21.
They finished three points clear of second-place Norway in Group B1 after losing just one of their six matches throughout the previous campaign.
Like Croatia, Austria were knocked out of Euro 2020 in the round of 16 – falling to eventual champions Italy. Since then, they have endured a mixed bag of results.
The Austrians have registered four wins and four losses in their past nine outings, picking up a solitary draw along the way. That draw came against Scotland last time out.
Head-to-head: Croatia and Austria have faced each other five times over the years, with Croatia winning on every occasion.
All the meetings came between 2000 and 2010 and produced an aggregate score of 9-2 in the Croatians’ favour.
Team news: Fresh from claiming yet another Champions League crown with Real Madrid, Croatia captain Luka Modric is in line to earn his 149th international cap on Friday.
Modric’s teammate, David Alaba, is closing in on a century of caps for Austria. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Swansea City midfielder Hannes Wolf could make his debut in Osijek.
Although Croatia avoided relegation from Group A last term, Austria will be full of confidence after gaining promotion from Group B.
For that reason, Forebet predicts that Austria will claim a narrow win over Croatia – keeping a clean sheet in the process.