JAKARTA - The coach of the Croatian national team Zlatko Dalic said his players must be able to adapt without the presence of Ivan Perisic during the Euro 2020 round of 16 against Spain in Copenhagen, Monday, June 28 tonight.
Perisic is confirmed to be absent due to having to self-isolate for the next 10 days following his positive test for COVID-19.
Perisic's absence will certainly be a big loss for Croatia, considering the Inter Milan player contributed one goal each in the 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic and a 3-1 win over Scotland in the Group D stage.
"Perisic is difficult to replace and he was a key player in our group stage, but this kind of thing can happen and we have to adapt," Dalic said.
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"Fortunately, in Perisic's position we have quite a lot of options compared to other positions for this tournament, so whoever takes the responsibility will surely do a good job.
"Whether it's Mislav Orsic, Josip Brekalo, Ante Rebic or Andrej Kramaric, we will try to play our best against Spain and prevent them from dominating the ball because if we keep defending it won't change things much.
"They also like to have a guard up to the front line when they don't have the ball, a style of play that looks like Barcelona and Real Madrid. It will be a difficult game, but I believe we have the ability to beat them," he added.
Apart from Perisic, Croatia will also be missing centre-back Dejan Lovren to a yellow card accumulation and Dalic ensures Duje Caleta-Car will be trusted to play again as they lost 1-0 to England in their Group D opener.
"We will return to the pattern we were without Lovren, because trying something new at this stage against a team like Spain doesn't make sense," he said.
If able to pass Spain, Croatia will meet France or Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
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