Spain v Croatia team news: Yamal makes history

Group B of the European Championship gets underway with one of the toughest-to-call fixtures of Matchday 1.

Spain v Croatia kicks off at 17:00 BST in Berlin.

Lamine Yamal is in Spain’s XI as expected and, at 16 years and 338 days, makes history as the youngest-ever player to appear in a European Championship finals.

The main bit of injury news for the Spaniards is the benching of Aymeric Laporte, who was suffering with a muscular issue this week.

Nacho and Robin Le Normand are instead at centre-half.

Marc Cucurella is preferred to Alex Grimaldo at left back, meanwhile.

Fitness issues are, as is the case with Laporte, likely a contributing factor with Ivan Perisic only being a substitute for Croatia.

Josko Gvardiol, often a centre-back for his country, looks set to start at left-back.

TEAM NEWS

Spain XI: Unai Simon, Carvajal, Le Normand, Nacho, Cucurella, Pedri, Rodrigo, Fabian, Yamal, Morata, Williams

Croatia XI: Livakovic, Stanisic, Pongracic, Gvardiol, Sutalo, Majer, Kovacic, Kramaric, Modric, Brozovic, Budimir.


Euro 2024 Fantasy: Get involved with our coverage!

Our special Euros package is a 40% discount to our full-price Premium Membership, so for only £3.25 per month (billed annually), you get access to our unique Premium Members Area, which has all the data you need to succeed in Euro Fantasy.

Premium Members can now get that extra edge for their preparations with official Euro 2024 qualification and friendly data, as well as all the usual benefits like team reveals, a fixture ticker, expert strategy tips and more.