Rebic wary of Russia, with the crowd to boot

Croatia striker calls on teammates not to let their focus waver

Russia have a strong team and they have an additional advantage at the World Cup 2018 in the form of support from the fans, Croatia forward Ante Rebic has said.

Croatia topped Group D and won 3-2 on penalties after extra time in the knockouts against Denmark.

They will next face Russia in the quarter-finals tomorrow in Sochi.

“Team Russia showed good football at the group stage and in the game against the Spanish,” Rebic said. “It’s a very strong team and what’s more, it’s playing at home and this will be a really big advantage for the Russians.

“As for ourselves, we’re focusing on our team and our strongest sides now.”

He voiced the hope that, as a minimum, his team would repeat the success they had at the World Cup in France in 1998 where they got third place.

“My whole family watched that championship and I remember how we celebrated the success then and I feel proud,” Rebic said.

“I trust that, as a minimum, our team will do the same at this championship,” he said.

Rebic called the team’s captain and midfielder Luka Modric the best Croatian player.

“Luka is our captain and leading player and one of the world’s best players,” he said. “He can get the title of the best player but it’s too premature to speak about it, since now we’re entering the quarter-finals and several matches are still ahead of us.”

Final hopes

It doesn’t matter that few Russian fans ever expected the hosts to go this far, midfielder Alexander Golovin is already thinking about the final.

“We knew that everything was possible,” he said.

“Even before the beginning of the tournament, we all understood that we could reach the final, we seriously counted on this and see this as the real state of things for us now.”