COPENHAGEN, June 27: Dani Osmo will be lining up against some familiar opponents when Spain faces Croatia in the round of 16 at the European Championship.
In fact, he easily could have been lining up for Croatia instead of Spain at Euro 2020.
The attacking midfielder turned down overtures from Croatia’s national team after moving to Dinamo Zagreb from Barcelona’s academy as a 16-year-old and spending six seasons at the club.
Olmo has never played senior club football in Spain — he moved to RB Leipzig in 2020 — but doesn’t regret his decision to stick to his home country.
The 23-year-old Olmo is part of a group of young players who have been given leading roles in Luis Enrique’s new-look Spain team. Against Croatia, he has the added role of being the in-house expert on the opposing players.
Spain and Croatia both seem to be peaking at the right time after slow starts to the tournament. Spain beat Slovakia 5-0 in its final group game to advance, while Croatia defeated Scotland 3-1 to finish second behind England in Group D.
Both also have strong tournament pedigree, although their recent trajectories have gone in opposite directions. Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup final before losing to France, and 13 of those players are still in the squad.
Spain won three straight major tournaments between 2008-2012, including two European Championships, but lost in the round of 16 at both Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. What’s more, only seven players in the Spain squad had played at a previous major tournament.
One of those veterans, Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets, gave the team a massive lift when he returned for the Slovakia game after testing positive for coronavirus before the tournament.
Luis Enrique has continued Spain’s traditional possession-based approach but the team’s attacking play looked laboured in the first two draws against defensive-minded Sweden and Poland.
Croatia, though, will play a more aggressive style and won’t sit back to let Spain dominate possession.
Croatia veteran Luka Modric showed with his goal against Scotland that he remains a formidable force at 35 and will be the player trying to dictate the game.
When it comes to Spain’s attack, much of the focus will again be on Alvaro Morata, who received a torrent of online abuse after missing a penalty against Slovakia and was also heavily criticised after the first two games, despite scoring against Poland. (AP)
