Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has said that the match against Italy will determine their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Euro 2012.
Luka Modric was one of the outstanding players for Croatia in their 3-1 win over Republic of Ireland in the opening group match. Due to the fact that Croatia are in the group containing Spain and Italy, they are not the favourites to qualify for the next round. Despite this, the win against the Republic of Ireland coupled with the draw for both Spain and Italy in their heavyweight encounter has meant that Croatia have been given a great opportunity to progress to the next round.
However, Luka Modric has revealed that the team is not looking beyond the next match against Italy. Croatia and the Italy football team will be taking on each other on Thursday knowing that have been for Croatia could put them on the brink of qualification. The final group game for Croatia is against current world champions Spain. Modric, who has been subject to transfer rumours from Manchester United and Barcelona, has said that he would like the team to perform in the same way against Italy as they did against the Republic of Ireland.
‘That’s an amazing game for us as well. I hope we can repeat this performance on Thursday evening and I hope we can win against Italy as well. It is going to be a different game, but we have to prepare well, bring this performance and play like we did last night. It has given us confidence because we won. That game didn’t bother us that much and we were only focused on our game and how to win. Now we have four days to think about Italy. I hope we prepare well, like we did for the Ireland football team,’ said Modric.
