Croatia v Scotland betting tips: Victory crucial for Clarke troops
Published:
Scotland take on Croatia in a do-or-die Group D encounter in which the winner could book their place in the knockout stage of the European Championship.
The Scots remain in with a chance of qualifying for the last 16 after holding England to a 0-0 draw although they had a couple of chances to win the game at Wembley.
Steve Clarke’s men are 11/5 underdogs to beat the 2018 World Cup finalists and we’ve highlighted some of the other markets in our Croatia v Scotland betting tips.
Match Odds
Scotland and Croatia both have one point going into Tuesday’s game at Hampden Park and only a win will see one of them qualify for the last 16 because a draw – priced at 23/10 – is highly unlikely to guarantee one of the four spots available for the best third-placed team.
Croatia may be the 5/4 favourites but they have never beaten Scotland in five attempts, drawing the first three and losing the previous two, the last of which came almost eight years ago.
The Croats lost 1-0 to England in their opening group game and had Czech Republic made the most of their first-half chances they could have been staring at back-to-back defeats.
With a draw no good for either nation, both teams are expected to go on the offensive so goals at both ends can be backed at 8/11 or it’s 10/11 on over 2.5 goals.
Alternatively, Scotland to win and both teams to score is 19/4 and the equivalent market for a Croatia win is 10/3.
However, Scotland have failed to score at Euro 2020 and they are 19/10 to fire blanks for a third successive match while it’s 4/5 on under 2.5 goals which has been the case in all four of the nations’ games in the group stage.
Talking Tactics
Scotland proved they have the defensive capabilities to defy quality opposition but it’s open to question whether they have the firepower to threaten a team like Croatia and they will also be without young midfielder Billy Gilmour who has tested positive for Covid-19 and must self-isolate for 10 days.
Kieran Tierney was superb in a three-man defence and provided the cross which was met by Stephen O’Donnell’s first-time volley and saved superbly by Jordan Pickford.
Lyndon Dykes also had a goal-bound effort cleared off the line by Reece James so Scotland had their chances but must convert them on Tuesday night.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic deployed a 4-2-3-1 system against the Czechs in which Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic played in deeper roles behind Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric and Josip Brekalo, with Ante Rebic the sole striker.
Goalscorer Odds
Perisic got the crucial equaliser against the Czechs and also scored Croatia’s previous goal in an uninspiring 1-1 draw with Armenia in the build-up to the tournament.
Match Info
Where: Hampden Park
When: 20:00, Tuesday 22nd June
How to watch: ITV4
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
