Croatia host Bulgaria in their penultimate Euro 2016 qualifier and would settle for nothing less than a victory under their new head coach Ante A?aA?i .
New coach Ante A?aA?i will want to begin his reign with victory, as they look to put some pressure on second placed Norway against whom they trail by two points. A victory would not only increase their chances for a playoff spot, but would drastically diminish any remaining chances for their opponents, Bulgaria.
Croatia replaced coach Niko KovaA? with Ante A?aA?i in September after Croatia dropped out of the top spots due to a win-less three-match run. Bulgaria havena t fared any better as they come into the match on the back of two 1-0 defeats against Norway and Italy.
Croatia might come to rue their luck after UEFA deducted a point as a Nazi Swastika was painted on field before their match against Italy.
Team News:
Hamburg SV striker Ivica Oli will be missing out against Bulgaria due to a one-match suspension, while the Real Madrid star Mateo KovaA?i will make his return following a one-game suspension.
.
Bulgaria, though, have quite a few players missing out due to suspension. Svetoslav Dyakov, Yordan Minev and Ilian Mitsanski will all have to sit out the match against Croatia. The good news is that neither team have any injury concerns.