Spain vs Croatia: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview
La Roja will have momentum following their win over England at Wembley, while Luka Modric’s side look to open their Nations League campaign with a win
Spain are currently top of their UEFA Nations League group after defeating England 2-1 at Wembley in Group A and will have the chance to remain top of the table if they manage to beat Croatia in Tuesday’s fixture.
Luka Modric’s side are yet to open their UEFA Nations League campaign, most recently holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw in a friendly, and will be looking to push on from the momentum that sealed a second-placed finish at the World Cup this summer.
National team captains and Real Madrid team-mates Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric will go head to head against each other at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero in Elche, with Spain having the chance to go six points clear at the top with a victory.
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TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch
In the United States (US), the game will be shown on ESPN 2 and Deportes Univision and streamed online via ESPN+.
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can be watched live on Sky Sports and streamed via Sky GO.
Squads & Team News
There will be no Diego Costa in the Spain squad as he remained at home to be with his partner, who gave birth to a child yesterday.
Luis Enrique shook up his Spain team and dropped Koke and Jordi Alba after their poor performances at the World Cup, while the veteran likes of David Silva, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta recently announced their retirements.
Iago Aspas has been drafted in to lead the line ahead of Costa, with Rodrigo Moreno playing on the wing.
Potential Spain XI: De Gea; Carvajal, Ramos, Nacho, Alonso; Busquets, Saul, Alcantara; Isco, Rodrigo, Asensio.
Centre-back duo Dejan Lovren and Domagoj Vida are both still recovering from injury, while forwards Ante Rebic and Andrej Kramaric are also sidelined. Vida may play, however, after sustaining his injury against Portugal.
Potential Croatia XI: Kalinic; Vrsaljko, Mitrovic, Vida, Pivaric; Modric, Brozovic, Rakitic; Pjaca, Livaja, Perisic.
Betting & Match Odds
Spain are priced at odds of winning 8/11 according to bet 365, while a draw is available at 14/5. A win for Croatia is up for 9/2.
Click here to see all of bet 365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
Match Preview
Their UEFA Nations League opener against Spain will be Croatia’s first competitive fixture since their loss to France in the World Cup final, with the likes of Modric, Ivan Perisic and Ivan Rakitic all included in the team.
They will be without the experienced likes of Mario Mandzukic who recently announced his retirement from the team, though Croatia could still have enough firepower in team to outwit a Spain side currently in transition.
La Roja also bid farewell to three of their arguably most seasoned players in Iniesta, Silva and Pique, with only captain Ramos the only notable player from the illustrious years where Spain dominated world football.
Spain’s team are a fresh-faced bunch and will be buoyed by their win over England at Wembley in their Nations League opener, where they were able to come back from being 1-0 through goals from Saul and Rodrigo and effectively ended their 67-year curse at the stadium.
Croatia were only able to hold Portugal to a draw in a friendly after Perisic opened the scoring, before Pepe equalised for the Ronaldo-less Portuguese.