There is another international trophy to win in Europe this weekend and players from Manchester City and Inter Milan will be available at the four-team Nations League Finals in the Netherlands. (More Football News)
Netherlands defenders Nathan Aké and Denzel Dumfries are teammates again after facing each other down in Man City바카라s 1-0 win over Inter on Saturday in the Champions League final.
The Nations League host team will play in the first semifinal match on Wednesday in Rotterdam against a Croatia team with Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozović.
Spain can call on midfielder Rodri, whose goal made Man City champions of Europe for the first time, for the second semifinal match against Italy on Thursday. That game will be played in Enschede.
The final will be played on Sunday in Rotterdam, with the third-place game in Enschede on the same day.
Italy coach Roberto Mancini has called up five Inter players, including the entire central defensive line 바카라 Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni, Matteo Darmian 바카라 that kept striker Erling Haaland mostly in check last weekend.
This year바카라s long European season was split in two by the World Cup in Qatar. Croatia finished third at that tournament, four years after reaching the final and losing to France.
바카라At the end of the season, there is the issue of fatigue,바카라 Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said, 바카라but we have a historic opportunity to win the first trophy.바카라
That lure of a first international title appeared to persuade Luka Modrić to stay with the national team. Now 37, Modrić has played 164 times for his country said after captaining Croatia to victory over Morocco in the third-place game in Qatar he wanted to 바카라continue until at least the Nations League and after we will see.바카라
It is the third Nations League Final Four tournament, which teams reach by winning a top-tier group. The promise of a 10.5 million euro ($11.3 million) prize from UEFA adds to the attraction.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch are without two key players as they bid to win the country바카라s first international title since the 1988 European Championship. Memphis Depay바카라s latest injury issue 바카라 a calf problem sustained in May 바카라 keeps the Netherlands바카라 most important forward out of the squad. Depay averages a goal every two games in his 88 internationals.
Matthijs de Ligt picked up a similar injury in training for the Croatia match. Daley Blind, a teammate at Bayern Munich, came in as a replacement.
The Netherlands were runners-up in the inaugural Final Four, losing to Portugal in the 2019 final after beating England in the semifinals.
CROATIA
The Nations League gives Modrić and his teammates another, if not last, chance to win a trophy. Thirty-four-year-old Ivan Perišić and the 30-year-old Brozović still feature in a consistently star-studded midfield.
Croatia qualified from a tough Nations League group that included World Cup finalist France and Denmark. Modrić바카라s penalty kick at Stade de France last June lifted Croatia to its first victory over France at the 10th attempt.
Leipzig defender Joško Gvardiol is not available this week because of a stomach muscle injury. Augsburg forward Dion Drena Beljo was added to the squad.
ITALY
Inter players can quickly shake off their Champions League disappointment as the backbone of European champion Italy바카라s squad. Nicolò Barella and Federico Dimarco also linked up with the squad on Monday.
This will be Italy바카라s third semifinal match against Spain in two years. The Azzurri won on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Euro 2020 semifinals in London. Spain then won 2-1 in Milan in the 2021 Nations League final four.
SPAIN
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente will be put to the test after a lackluster start. He replaced Luis Enrique following the national team바카라s poor World Cup campaign, showing some of the same problems from the past 바카라 lots of possession and few scoring chances.
In March, Spain needed two late goals in a hard-fought 3-0 win over a Norway team missing Haaland to open its qualifying campaign for the 2024 European Championship, then fell 2-0 at Scotland. It leaves the coach under pressure to show significant improvement at the Final Four, where Spain reached the final in 2021 but lost to France.
바카라We should learn from the past, correct what wasn바카라t done well,바카라 Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón said Monday. 바카라But we shouldn바카라t be held back by what happened then.바카라
Spain has injury problems with Nico Williams, David García and Juan Bernat unable to travel to the Netherlands. Ansu Fati, Nacho Fernández and Fran García are their replacements.
