England v Croatia: What the stats say ahead Euro 2020 clash
This is the third meeting between England and Croatia at a major tournament (World Cup, Euros). The Three Lions beat Croatia 4-2 in the group stages at Euro 2004 whilst the Croats prevailed 2-1 after extra-time in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
England are taking part in their 10th European Championship finals – no team has played as many games in the tournament without ever reaching the final (31 matches, 0 final).
England have never lost at Wembley in a major tournament (World Cup 1966, Euro 1996), winning seven and drawing four of their previous 11 games (penalty shoot-outs excluded).
Croatia are taking part in their sixth UEFA European Championship, and their fifth in a row. Since their first participation in 1996, they have alternated between reaching the knockout phase and group stage elimination (QF in 1996, GS in 2004, QF in 2008, GS in 2012, R16 in 2016).
Croatia have lost against the eventual winner in three of their last four major tournaments (World Cup + European Championships): Spain at Euro 2012 (group stages), Portugal at Euro 2016 (round of 16) and France at World Cup 2018 (final).
England have never won their opening game at a European Championship tournament (D5 L4). Croatia, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their five Euro openers (W4 D1).
Penalty shoot-outs excluded, Croatia have lost only two of their last 11 European Championship games, both 1-0 defeats (against Spain in 2012 and Portugal in 2016).
England scored 4.6 goals per game in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign (37 goals in 8 games), a higher ratio than any other team.
Harry Kane secured the Golden Boot in the last World Cup, scoring six goals, including three from the penalty spot. He remained goalless in his only previous European Championship Finals appearance in 2016 (239 minutes, 0 goal), however, this despite attempting more shots than any other England player at the tournament (13).
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Ivan Perisic has been directly involved in more goals than any other player for Croatia in major tournament history (7 goals + 4 assists in World Cup/Euros – excluding Nations League). In fact, he’s one of just three European players to have either scored or assisted a goal in each of the last four such major tournaments (since Euro 2012), alongside Andrés Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Head-coach Gareth Southgate will be leading England for a second major tournament (excluding Nations League) after World Cup 2018 (4th place). At Euro 1996, he was one of only three England players to play all 510 minutes, alongside David Seaman and Tony Adams – he missed a penalty in the semi-final shoot-out against Germany. Zlatko Dalic – in charge since October 2017 – is only the second manager to lead Croatia at two consecutive major tournaments (World Cup & Euros), after Miroslav Blazevic (Euro 1996, World Cup 1998).