Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has hit back at critics who have labelled his side as "dark horses" at this summer's Euros - and even aimed a swipe at England.
Dalic's side slumped to a 3-0 loss to Spain in their opening group stage game over the weekend, with all three goals arriving in the first-half of a match marked by a lack of incision and clinical edge from Croatia.
The result leaves Croatia bottom of Group B on zero points, behind Albania, whom they face on Wednesday.
And in a spiky pre-match press conference Dalic embarked on a fervid defence of his side's credentials, criticising those he perceived as baselessly writing off Croatia after their Spain performance, while also digging out England's track record at major tournaments under Gareth Southgate as a means of comparison.
"It wasn’t a pretty sight, it wasn’t great to watch, we didn’t get a great feeling,” Dalic said of the defeat to Spain.
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“But we are always the dark horse, we are always not among the favourites, nobody believes in us but in the past six years we have won three medals. After France, our national team is the first team to have done this so I always keep saying that Croatia deserves greater respect from everyone else for what we have managed to do.
“We have won three medals, England won one [more than] 50 years ago but they are a great team, we are not, we are always the dark horse. We are little but we are brave, we will fight and we have the evidence of thousands of Croats in Berlin. We are a nation that is entitled to feel proud and our results show that we are better than our perception."
Dalic added: “I know after this defeat [against Spain] there is a lot of pessimism and negativity but we will give our best and we are doing the best to be the best we can. Everything we have done in the past six, seven years, we have to look at that and feel proud. Croatia is much better than is said and seen in the public.”
Croatia fan reacts during the 3-0 loss to Spain at Euro 2024 (UEFA via Getty Images)Croatia finished runners-up at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, before finishing third in Qatar and runners-up in the Nations League last year. In the two previous European championships, they were knocked out of the Last 16 by Portugal and Spain respectively.
England, who won the World Cup in 1966, were runners-up at the delayed Euro 2020 and finished third in the 2019 Nations League. They lost the third-place match against Belgium at the 2018 World Cup and were knocked out of the quarter-finals by France in Qatar.
Against Albania, Dalic is expected to switch up his starting XI, specifically in midfield. Albania - who made history in their 2-1 defeat to holders Italy with the fastest-ever European Championship goal - are competing in only their second major finals, after a group-stage exit from Euro 2016 when they claimed a memorable win over Romania.
And Dalic is not underestimating the difficulty of Wednesday's match. "We have to be and feel alive until the end of the match," he said. "We cannot lose our heads and try to force things, but with our quality and our own play, do what we've envisaged because tomorrow we'll go for victory and three points, but patience will be the key tomorrow."
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