The 33-year-old emphasized that in order to succeed against the Croatians, a significant improvement compared to the 0: 2 on Thursday at the Stade de France is necessary. “It wasn’t as good against France, but hopefully we’ll show what we’re capable of against Croatia,” said Arnautovic. The Viennese was encouraged by the ÖFB appearance in the 3-0 win against the Croatians in Osijek in June. “We played outstandingly, we want to continue this performance. We know Croatia have a very strong team, but we are ready,” said Arnautovic.
Real Madrid star Luka Modric stands out from the strong Croatian collective. “There’s not much to say about him, he’s shown enough in his career. For me he is one of the best in the world in this position. He continues to show that he can play at the top level,” Arnautovic said of the 37-year-old midfielder. “But we shouldn’t look at individual players, we should concentrate on ourselves.”
Arnautovic has Serbian roots, many of his Croatian friends will be at the stadium, the striker said. However, he does not feel particularly motivated by this. “I’m motivated in every game, whether it’s against Croatia, France or another team,” emphasized the Italy legionnaire. It also only costs the ÖFB international a shrug of the shoulders that a lot of supporters of the Croatian selection will be sitting in the stadium. “It doesn’t matter whether more Croats than Austrians come. We have to concentrate on our game,” said Arnautovic.
Croatia a slight favorite for Sucic
Red Bull Salzburg’s Croatian pro Luka Sucic can only follow the game from afar. The 20-year-old from Linz would be a candidate for the A selection, but was nominated for the European Championship play-off for the U21 team. Nevertheless, he looks with great interest at the showdown in the Prater, where, according to Sucic, a relatively balanced game can be expected. But he believes “Croatia is a slight favorite in this game,” said the APA midfielder.
“You could see in the first game that it wouldn’t be easy for us because Austria have a good team. In addition, the new coach (Ralf Rangnick, note) provided additional good impetus.” The success of the Austrians against Croatia in Rangnick’s debut was not only due to the German taking office, emphasized Sucic. “One factor was for sure that Luka Modric and a couple of other key players weren’t there.” But that shouldn’t be an excuse. “Austria did really well in the first leg, while not everything went as we had imagined for us.”
The Croatians would be first in the group with a win against the ÖFB team and thus in the Final Four for the Nations League title. In addition, the guest appearance in the Happel Stadium serves to check the form before the World Cup, which begins in November and features Belgium, Morocco and Canada in the group phase. In the desert, a surprise similar to that in 2018, when Croatia sensationally advanced to the final, should succeed. “First of all we want to perform well in the group phase and get through it. Then we’ll see. But we definitely have high quality in the team, so if we get a run, a lot is possible,” said Sucic.
