European Football Championship preview of Group B with Spain, Croatia, Italy and Albania

Preview of European Championship Group B
Outsider takes on Spain, Italy and Croatia

11.06.2024, 19:11

From June 14 to July 14, the continent’s best footballers will compete in Germany to determine the new European champion. Just like three years ago, defending champion Italy is travelling as a dark horse rather than a top favorite – and has been drawn in a tough manner. A quick check of Group B.

Spain

The stars: Superstar Gavi from FC Barcelona suffered a cruciate ligament tear in November and will miss the European Championship finals. Rodri from Manchester City is considered the great leader in midfield with his experience and overview. Top talents from FC Barcelona such as Pau Cubarsí (17), Pedri, Fermín López (both 21) and Lamine Yamal (16) could make it big.

The trainer: Luis de la Fuente, the successor to World Cup coach Luis Enrique, who had to leave after the round of 16 exit in Qatar, has already won titles with national teams – but only at youth level. In 2015 he won the European Championship with the U19s and again in 2019 with the U21s. After all, the 62-year-old former Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla FC professional can call himself a Nations League winner with Spain since last year.

The outlook: The most successful years with the 2010 World Cup triumph and two European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012 are long gone for the Spaniards. In the last five major tournaments, the Furia Roja only made it past the round of 16 once – at the 2021 European Championship they reached the semi-finals. The group stage will already be challenging – with Italy, Croatia and outsider Albania. But Spain is, as always in recent years, one of the title favorites.

Croatia

The stars: Real Madrid’s midfield director Luka Modrić is the star of the team. For the 38-year-old record-cap international player of the Balkan team, this will probably be the last major tournament of his career. Leverkusen’s Josip Stanisic is also one of the mainstays of the World Cup third-place team. Coach Zlatko Dalic trusts three other Bundesliga professionals in Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim), Josip Juranovic (Union Berlin) and Lovro Majer (VfL Wolfsburg).

The trainer: Dalic has been Croatia’s national coach since 2017. The 57-year-old is a kind of father figure for many players. The Croatian receives a lot of support due to the way he deals with the team – not only as a coach, but above all as a person. Dalic sets the direction, but takes the team with him. His importance for the entire team structure is considered outstanding.

The outlook: Croatia has never made it past the quarter-finals at a European Championship. But with second place at the 2018 World Cup and third place two years ago in Qatar, the south-eastern Europeans have earned themselves the status of an unpleasant tournament team. Their ambitions are huge, but the preliminary group could hardly be tougher. If Croatia survives the group stage, anything seems possible.

Italy

The stars: The defending champions are in a similar situation to their surprise triumph in 2021: the team is travelling without any superstars. The most likely to stand out are goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus attacker Federico Chiesa and the trio Nicolò Barella, Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco from champions Inter Milan.

The trainer: European champion coach Roberto Mancini followed a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, so Luciano Spalletti has been in charge of the Squadra Azzurra since 2023. He came with the recommendation of a historic championship title with SSC Napoli, and with Italy he has since achieved five wins and two draws in eight games.

The outlook: The Azzurri are travelling to Germany as defending champions, but they only narrowly managed to qualify with a 0:0 draw against Ukraine. Coach Spalletti does not have any exceptional talent in his squad. A lot will therefore depend on how quickly the team comes together in the tournament and whether Spalletti’s offensive game plan also works against stronger opponents. In qualifying, they lost 1:3 to European runners-up England.

Albania

The stars: Albania is led by Berat Djimsiti, who won the Europa League with Atalanta Bergamo. Other well-known players include right-back Elseid Hysaj from Lazio Rome, midfielder Kristjan Asllani from Inter Milan and striker Armando Broja, who most recently played for Fulham FC. Darmstadt’s Klaus Gjasula is also in the squad.

The trainer: The Brazilian Sylvinho has been in charge of the Albanians since 2023. The former professional played for FC Barcelona and Manchester City, among others. At Barca, he worked under Pep Guardiola, whom he describes as a “genius”. The 50-year-old had previously only been head coach for four months at Olympique Lyon and nine months at his hometown club Corinthians São Paulo.

The outlook: For Albania, this is their second participation in a European Championship finals after 2016. However, the team is a clear underdog in the preliminary round against Italy, Croatia and Spain. The strong qualification gave hope. With only one defeat in eight games, Albania won the group, ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland, among others. Only Portugal and France conceded fewer goals on the way to the World Cup.

Of course, we also have an overview of all the other groups: Click here for the previews of Group A (Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland), Group C (Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia and England), Group D (Poland, Netherlands, Austria and France), Group E (Belgium, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine) and Group F (Turkey, Georgia, Portugal and Czech Republic).