Euro 2024

Croatia vs Albania Euro 2024 Prediction

Two nations that lost their opener go head-to-head in round 2 of the group stage as Croatia meet Albania at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg in the opening game on Wednesday.

Croatia had started to grow into their opening game versus Spain when they were caught out on the counter attack for the opening goal on 29 minutes. Their two centre-backs left too much space for Alvaro Morata to exploit, and duly score one-on-one. It was 0-3 before half-time.

With defending champions Italy to come in their final game, this is a must win for a Croatia side that will have expected to make the knockout stages, at least before the group draw was made. Despite the emphatic scoreline in the opening game, it’s worth noting that Croatia did have 54% of the possession against Spain, 16 shots, of which 5 were on target.

Meanwhile, Albania took a shock lead against Italy with the quickest goal in European Championship history… after just 23 seconds. That lead lasted just 10 minutes and Italy were in front in the 16th minute of the game. Albania would not test Gianluigi Donnarumma again all game.

Croatia had players all over the pitch who had efforts on goal versus Spain, suggesting they have lots of goal threats in Germany. Andrej Kramaric, Ante Budimir, Marcelo Brozovic are among those, as well as defenders from set pieces. Ivan Perisic, Luka Sucic, Bruno Petkovic and Mario Pasilic all came off the bench in the second half and could be looking to start on Wednesday.

Minnows Albania were handed a tough group and their heartbreak in the opening game may continue in their final 2 games as I struggle to see them getting anything from this one.

Best bet: Croatia to win -1.5 goals on the Asian Handicap with Bet365