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Croatia will be without Borna Barisic for tomorrow’s crunch Euro 2020 clash with Scotland.
Steve Clarke ’s men must win at Hampden if they are to go through as one of the best third placed teams, as do the Croats.
But they’ll have to do it without the Rangers star, who has been ruled out through injury.
Barisic has trained with the squad but not enough to tempt boss Zlatko Dalic to throw him in against the country where he earns his living.
He explained: “Borna has not trained with us for the last 5/6 days. He has trained only twice recently so that hasn’t been sufficient for me to be sure he can play an entire match. He’ll be with us and he’ll be there though”
The Scots will be without one of their main men as well after talented teenage midfielder Billy Gilmour tested positive for Covid-19.
The news, confirmed by the Scottish FA this morning, comes as a huge blow to the hosts after last Friday’s 0-0 draw with England at Wembley set up tomorrow’s Hampden showdown.
(Image: Getty)
However, Dalic attempted to play down the significance of Gilmur’s absence, insisting Scotland have plenty of other players who can cause his team problems.
And he doesn’t expect any of his players to pull out due to any Covid fears they may have after Gilmour’s positive result.
He added: “We have just arrived in Glasgow – but I don’t expect anyone to say they don’t want to play.
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“All of them are afraid but nonetheless, we have to play, concentrate on the game and forget everything else.
“That’s how the situation is for this entire Euros.
“All of us have been negative until now, we are taking all the precautions and implement all the measures. But we just have to see what happens.
“Every third day we go through the tests, there is psychological pressure and uncertainty.
“So we are afraid something would happen, they test positive and we all end up isolating and having those serious issues.
“I hope nobody else (in the Scotland squad) is positive, I don’t want this to expand. Hopefully it’s just a single case.
“I wish Gilmour a good recovery and I wish that nobody else ends up positive with Covid because that would make things difficult.
“We are concerned but we have to do this match, we have to play and try to win the three points.
“We always knew the third match would be decisive. This is our last chance and we’re going to try to take it and progress.
“We are a very motivated side but we see Scotland as a very tough team. They played well against England.
“Gilmour didn’t start in the initial line-up but played the last match.
“Scotland have other players, maybe more experienced players, and one of those will maybe replace him.
“So I don’t think it’s a great blow to Scotland because they are a good team with great players.
“They have shown they are in good form, they drew with Holland 2-2 and only lost a goal in the last minutes.
“Against England they played well away from home in front of the English fans – so I would say that is a good team.”
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