Euro 2012: Italy v Croatia
Venue: Municipal Stadium, Poznan; Date: Thursday, 14 June; Kick-off: 17:00 BST
Italy v Croatia Head-to-head:
Italy
Croatia
Venue: Municipal Stadium, Poznan; Date: Thursday, 14 June; Kick-off: 17:00 BST
Italy's Andrea Barzagli is not ready to return so Daniele De Rossi will continue as a makeshift centre-back.
Italy v Croatia Head-to-head:
- Since gaining independence Croatia are unbeaten in their five games against Italy, winning three of those matches.
- That includes Slaven Bilic's first match as Croatia boss - a 2-0 friendly win in Livorno in August 2006, when Eduardo and Luka Modric got the goals.
- The only competitive encounter came when the sides met in their second group match at the 2002 World Cup. Although the Croats won 2-1 in Japan the Azzurri eventually progressed to the knock-out stages while Croatia went home.
Italy
- The Azzurri forced Iker Casillas into five saves in their opening game - as many as the Spain goalkeeper made in total during qualifying (in seven appearances).
- That is despite Italy having just 34% possession against Spain - the lowest percentage in the opening round of games.
- Andrea Pirlo made 2,778 successful passes for Juventus this season - the highest tally of any player in one of the top European leagues.
- They have won just one of their last nine games at major tournaments (W1, D6, L2), with penalty shoot-outs against France (2006) and Spain (2008) classified as draws.
Croatia
- The last team to beat Croatia at the European Championship (excluding penalty shoot-outs) was England, who defeated them 4-2 at Euro 2004.
- The Croats have won their last four group games at the European Championship.
- They have not ended a calendar year outside the top 10 of the Fifa rankings since 2006.
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