The so-called ‘group of death’ joins the Euro 2024 party on Saturday, with two of the tournament’s highest-profile teams locking horns in the German capital of Berlin.
Three-time European Championship winners Spain take on 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia, with both sides aiming to gain an advantage on Italy and Albania in Group B.
If you’re looking for stats, trends and analysis, we’ve got you covered. Continue reading to discover what Forebet’s AI algorithm predicts for Saturday’s showdown.
With its full complement of tools, Forebet has made a prediction for the Euro 2024 outcome, which you can check in the video below.
Spain finished their Euro 2024 preparations with a couple of hefty victories last week, thrashing Andorra 5-0 before defeating Northern Ireland 5-1.
Mikel Oyarzabal netted a hat-trick against Andorra, while Pedri bagged a brace against Northern Ireland, although La Roja will face tougher opponents in the coming weeks.
Impressively, Spain have lost just one of their last 12 matches across all competitions, suffering a 1-0 defeat to Colombia back in March.
Having scored 35 goals in their previous 10 outings (3.5 goals per game), Luis de la Fuente’s men will be confident of kick-starting their campaign on a positive note.
Meanwhile, Croatia also enjoyed two warm-up victories earlier this month, defeating North Macedonia 3-0 before claiming a 2-1 win over Portugal.
Those victories extended Croatia’s unbeaten streak to six matches, with only two losses coming in their last 15 encounters in normal time.
Zlatko Dalic’s side have impressed on the biggest stage in recent years, reaching the final of the 2018 World Cup before finishing third at the 2022 World Cup.
That said, Croatia failed to make it past the last 16 at Euro 2016 and Euro 2020, and they have only reached the quarter-finals on two occasions.
Head-to-head: Last summer, Spain defeated Croatia on penalties to win the UEFA Nations League, following a goalless draw in the Netherlands.
This means that Croatia have managed to win just two of their previous nine meetings with La Roja across all competitions, suffering a 5-3 defeat at Euro 2020.
Team news: Spain’s squad features a blend of youth and experience, including 16-year-old Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal and 38-year-old veteran Jesus Navas.
Croatia’s squad contains six players with 90+ international caps, with Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Domagoj Vida and Mateo Kovacic all sitting on 100+ caps.
Although Spain have enjoyed plenty of success against Croatia over the years, both sides will be eager to avoid defeat in their opening match of the tournament.
Forebet predicts that Spain and Croatia will play out a goalless draw in Berlin, serving up a third successive stalemate in normal time between the teams.