Croatia vs Scotland: UEFA EURO 2020 match background, facts and stats

Croatia will be looking for their first ever win against Scotland as the teams meet in Glasgow in the final round of Group D games.

• Home and away, Scotland are unbeaten in their five previous matches against their Matchday 3 opponents as they look to finish their group campaign on a positive note in Hampden Park's penultimate UEFA EURO 2020 fixture.

• The teams have each collected one point from their first two Group D games, Scotland losing 2-0 to the Czech Republic at Hampden Park on Matchday 1 before holding England 0-0 at Wembley. Croatia had gone down 1-0 against England at Wembley but had more joy in Glasgow, coming from behind to draw 1-1 there against the Czechs.

• With England and the Czech Republic both on four points, Croatia will go through with a win and can still overtake Czech Republic for second place on overall goal difference. Scotland will go through with a win and can still overtake England for second place on overall goal difference.

Previous meetings

• After drawing their first three games against Croatia, Scotland have won the last two, Robert Snodgrass scoring in both games in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, a 1-0 away win in Zagreb and a 2-0 success at Hampden Park in which Steven Naismith scored the Scots' other goal.

• Scotland, however, picked up only five more points from their other eight qualifiers to end up fourth in Group A on 11 points, six behind second-placed Croatia who went on to beat Iceland in the play-offs and book their place in the finals in Brazil.

• Four of the teams' five fixtures have come in World Cup qualifying; in the preliminaries for the 2002 tournament the game in Zagreb finished 1-1, Alen Bokšić's 15th-minute opener for the home side cancelled out nine minutes later by Kevin Gallacher.

• The game in Glasgow ended goalless and once again Croatia had the last laugh, finishing top of Group 6 to reach Korea/Japan; Scotland were eliminated in third place.

• A Hampden friendly on 26 March 2008 also finished all square, Niko Kranjčar's tenth-minute goal for the visitors cancelled out by Kenny Miller in the 31st minute.

EURO facts: Croatia

• This is Croatia's sixth EURO; they have missed out just once since independence, at UEFA EURO 2000, meaning this is their fifth successive finals. They have twice reached the last eight and twice bowed out at the group stage.

• Croatia's UEFA EURO 2016 campaign was ended in the round of 16 by eventual champions Portugal, who were 1-0 winners after extra time. A team coached by Ante Čačić had finished first in their section on seven points, ahead of defending champions Spain.

• Zlatko Dalić's side were Group E winners in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2020, picking up 17 points from their eight matches to finish three ahead of Wales.

• Having been eliminated by Portugal after extra time four years ago, the Matchday 1 defeat by England is only Croatia's second loss over 90 minutes in 16 EURO matches (W9 D5).

• The draw against the Czechs means Croatia's record at Hampden Park is now D3 L1. Their last match there before Matchday 2 was the 2-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Scotland in October 2013; those three fixtures with Scotland were also their only previous games in the country before this tournament.

• Kranjčar's strike in that 1-1 friendly draw against Scotland in March 2008 was Croatia's only goal in Glasgow before Ivan Perišić's equaliser against the Czech Republic.

EURO facts: Scotland

• Scotland have qualified for two previous EURO final tournaments, in 1992 and 1996. In both they failed to get beyond the group stage, although they won one of their three games in each tournament.

• This is Scotland's first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France.

• Scotland have never progressed beyond the first round in either of their EURO appearances or their eight World Cups, although their 1998 World Cup campaign was only the fourth time in those ten tournaments that they failed to win a game.

• Scotland's record in EURO final tournaments is now W2 D2 L4.

• The Scots kicked off their UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying campaign under Alex McLeish, losing 3-0 in Kazakhstan before a 2-0 win away to San Marino. Steve Clarke then succeeded McLeish in May 2019, Scotland ending in third place in Group I behind Belgium and Russia having picked up 15 points from their ten games overall (W5 L5).

• Scotland qualified for the play-offs after finishing top of their 2018/19 UEFA Nations League group, picking up nine points from four matches under McLeish to win their section ahead of Israel and Albania.

• Israel were again the opponents in the play-off semi-final, Clarke's side scoring all five of their penalties to win 5-4 after a goalless 120 minutes at Hampden Park.

• Penalties were also needed after Scotland's play-off final away to Serbia had finished 1-1, the home side cancelling out Ryan Christie's opener with a 90th-minute equaliser. Once again Scotland converted all five spot kicks, David Marshall saving Serbia's final penalty from Aleksandar Mitrović to book a finals place.

• The Matchday 1 loss to the Czechs is Scotland's only defeat in their last seven EURO matches (W3 D3), having lost the previous four.

• Scotland's record at Hampden Park is now W135 D63 L61. They were unbeaten in six games there (W4 D2) before losing to the Czechs. That was their first loss there since a 4-0 EURO qualifying reverse to Belgium on 9 September 2019 that was their fifth defeat in eight matches at the ground (W3).

Links and trivia

• Croatia's Borna Barišić has been at Rangers since signing from Osijek in August 2018.

• Barišić's team-mates at Ibrox include Nathan Patterson and Jon McLaughlin.

• Have also played together:
Dejan Lovren & Andy Robertson (Liverpool 2017–20)
Lovre Kalinić & John McGinn (Aston Villa 2019, 2020)
Mateo Kovačić & Billy Gilmour (Chelsea 2018–)

• Luka Modrić and Andy Robertson, the opposing captains of Croatia and Scotland, played 90 minutes of both legs as Real Madrid knocked Liverpool out of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League in the quarter-finals, winning 3-1 at home and drawing 0-0 at Anfield.

Latest news

Croatia

• Ivan Perišić's goal against the Czech Republic was his eighth in major tournaments, the 32-year-old having previously scored twice at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, twice at UEFA EURO 2016 and three times at the 2018 World Cup. He is the first Croatian player to score at four tournaments and has moved alongside Davor Šuker and Mario Mandžukić as his country's joint top marksman at the EURO finals with three goals.

• Croatia's defeat by England on Matchday 1 – their first in an opening game at a EURO final tournament – was one of eight in 15 matches over the past nine months (W4 D3). Their two pre-UEFA EURO 2020 friendlies brought a 1-1 draw at home to Armenia on 1 June and a 0-1 away loss to Belgium five days later.

• Perišić also scored Croatia's goal against Armenia to mark his 100th international appearance. He became the ninth Croatian player to reach the century, a list headed by current captain Luka Modrić.

• Joško Gvardiol made his senior international debut as a half-time substitute against Belgium and has also started Croatia's first two UEFA EURO 2020 games. He was one of three squad members – together with Luka Ivanušec and Domagoj Bradarić – who played in Croatia's 2-1 defeat by Spain in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship quarter-final on 31 May. It was Ivanušec's late penalty that took the game into extra time.

• There are reigning domestic league champions in Zlatko Dalić's UEFA EURO 2020 squad from no fewer than eight European countries. In addition to five players from 2020/21 Croatian double winners Dinamo Zagreb – Gvardiol, Ivanušec, Dominik Livaković, Mislav Oršić and Bruno Petković – the Croatia coach has at his disposal the following newly-crowned title winners: Šime Vrsaljko (Atlético de Madrid, Spain), Perišić and Marcelo Brozović (Internazionale, Italy), Bradarić (LOSC Lille, France), Borna Barišić (Rangers, Scotland), Dejan Lovren (Zenit, Russia), Josip Juranović (Legia Warszawa, Poland) and Domagoj Vida from Turkish double winners Beşiktaş.

• Furthermore, there is a current UEFA Champions League winner in the squad – Chelsea's Mateo Kovačić.

• Croatia's squad also has considerable major tournament pedigree, with 13 survivors from the squad that Dalić led to the 2018 World Cup final, nine of whom had also been on duty at UEFA EURO 2016 – Brozović, Kovačić, Modrić, Perišić, Vida, Vrsaljko, Milan Badelj, Andrej Kramarić and Lovre Kalinić.

• Modrić is appearing at his fourth successive EURO, Badelj, Perišić, Vida and Vrsaljko at their third. The Croatia captain has already moved ahead of Darijo Srna at the top of the country's all-time EURO appearance charts at this tournament, to 49, and needs one more outing at UEFA EURO 2020 to not only join Srna on a record 12 for the final tournament but also to reach another personal milestone of 100 appearances in competitive internationals.

Scotland

• Scotland's 0-2 defeat by the Czech Republic and goalless draw against England mean they have failed to score in six of their eight matches at the EURO finals. The two exceptions both brought victories – 3-0 against the CIS in 1992 and 1-0 against Switzerland in 1996. Both of those wins came in their final group game.

• Scotland's opening defeat by the Czech Republic was the only one they have suffered in their past seven games (W2 D4) and only their third in the last 18, but the draw with England means they have won just two of their last ten – against the Faroe Islands (4-0 h) and Luxembourg (1-0 a).

• That friendly in Luxembourg, in which Ché Adams scored the winning goal, was the second of two pre-tournament warm-up games for Steve Clarke’s side in early June. They drew the first of them, 2-2 with the Netherlands in southern Portugal – a game that featured first international goals for defender Jack Hendry and striker Kevin Nisbet and debuts for David Turnbull and Billy Gilmour – before another first cap was awarded, to Nathan Patterson of Scottish champions Rangers, against Luxembourg.

• Gilmour, who turned 20 on the opening day of UEFA EURO 2020, made his first start for Scotland in the draw against England and was voted Star of the Match. He is unavailable for this match because of illness.

• Scotland's squad is the least experienced at UEFA EURO 2020, only one player, 38-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon, having over 50 caps to his name. It is also the squad with the fewest international goals – a collective tally of just 36, with John McGinn, on ten, the lone player to have reached double figures.

• Although there was no international tournament experience in the squad coming into UEFA EURO 2020, ten of the 26 players operated in the English Premier League in 2020/21, including captain Andy Robertson, who started all 38 games for defending champions Liverpool, while Manchester United's Scott McTominay appeared in the UEFA Europa League final and Gilmour was a fringe member of Chelsea's UEFA Champions League-winning squad.

• The seven goals McGinn scored in the UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying campaign mean that he needs just one more to join Ally McCoist as Scotland's all-time EURO top scorer. McCoist is one of just four Scottish scorers at the EURO finals; none of them managed more than one goal.