Veteran winger Ivan Perisic is confident that Croatia's experience will work in their favour when they take the field against a young Spain team in the UEFA Nations League final on Sunday, June 18. He was in the team that finished as runners-up in the FIFA World Cup 2018 and third in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, beating Morocco in the Third place match.
"We have been together for a long time and there is a core of the team that has developed a deep understanding after all these years. The Spanish team has lots of new, young players but they do play for great clubs. Yes, we do have more experience than they do, having been runners-up at the 2018 World Cup and then third in Qatar.
"I believe that we might have a little competitive advantage. We had a great experience from Russia and from Qatar. But we're still talking about Spain, who are always going to turn out a great national side."
The side boasts a lot of experience in the form of captain Luka Modric, defensive midfielder and Champions League finalist with Inter in Marcelo Brozovic, as well as central defender Domagoj Vida.
Croatia will want to win their first major title as they face Spain in Rotterdam in the final of the third edition of the Nations League. They reached the final after they beat the Netherlands 4-2 in extra time. Meanwhile, Spain reached the final with a last-second goal against Italy in Thursday's semi-final in Enschede.
"We have come close to a major title before, but I think that this is going to be third time lucky where first place is going to happen for us," Perisic predicted.
Their head coach Zlatko Dalic is so confident, mostly because the team has not changed much since the FIFA World Cup in December. "We had a great World Cup in Qatar, where we were a team that played great matches and put together great results. I think our game has not changed much since.
"Almost all the players are the same. They're here. Of course, we miss (defender Josko) Gvardiol a lot. He's one of our greatest strengths."
An injury will force the highly-rated 21-year-old to withdraw from the Nations League finals. "But I believe that the team has over the last few years built up a sort of continuity and developed into a football superpower, so I'm really happy for that," Dalic added.
"I'm happy that we play great football, I'm happy that we have great players playing at big clubs in good leagues, and also we have a Croatia league that is competitive and a good springboard for those at home," he added.
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