Croatia vs Morocco: How do both squads compare ahead of World Cup clash?

This will be the second meeting between the two nations, who are renewing hostilities just a few weeks after playing out an uneventful goalless draw in their Group F curtain-raiser on November 23.

Croatia failed in their bid to become just the fourth nation to reach back-to-back World Cup finals as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of a Lionel Messi-led Argentina at the Lusail Stadium.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner turned in another Man-of-the-Match performance as he opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 34th minute before setting up Julian Alvarez's second goal of the game with a sublime assist nine minutes after the hour mark.

Prior to that, Zlatko Dalic's men finished as runners-up in Group F, two points adrift off Morocco in first place, before securing successive penalty shootout victories over Japan and Brazil in their first two knockout-stage games.

While Croatia will set out to pick up their first bronze medal since 1998, when they claimed a 2-1 victory over Netherlands in the third-placed playoff, standing in their way is a Morocco side who are one game away from becoming the first African nation to secure a podium finish.

After eliminating Portugal in the quarter-finals on November 10 thanks to a header from Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri, the Atlas Lions' record-breaking run to the final came to an end four days later when they were beaten 2-0 by France.

Theo Hernandez opened the scoring in the fifth minute to hand the reigning world champions an early lead, before substitute Randal Kolo Muani put the result beyond reach with a simple tap-in in the 79th minute.

Prior to that, Walid Regragui's men were unbeaten in 11 consecutive matches across all competitions — a run dating back to June's 3-0 friendly loss against USA in June — while they had conceded just once in their previous 10 outings.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how the squads of Croatia and Morocco stack up against each other as they go head to head for third place in Qatar on Saturday.

CROATIA

Most valuable player:

Josko Gvardiol (£51.6m)

Overall squad value:

£324.6m

Most capped player:

Luka Modric (161)

Leading goalscorer:

Ivan Perisic (33)

Total caps:

1,073

Total goals:

131

Oldest player:

Luka Modric (37)

Youngest player:

Josko Gvardiol (20)

Average age:

27.4

SQUAD IN FULL

Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Ivo Grbic (Atletico Madrid), Ivica Ivusic (Osijek)

Defenders: Josip Stanisic (Bayern Munich), Borna Barisic (Rangers), Martin Erlic (Sassuolo), Dejan Lovren (Zenit Saint Petersburg), Borna Sosa (VfB Stuttgart), Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Domagoj Vida (AEK Athens), Josip Juranovic (Celtic), Josip Sutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)

Midfielders: Lovro Majer (Rennes), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan), Nikola Vlasic (Torino), Mario Pasalic (Atalanta), Luka Sucic (Red Bull Salzburg), Kristijan Jakic (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Forwards: Ivan Perisic (Tottenham Hotspur), Andrej Kramaric (1899 Hoffenheim), Marko Livaja (Hajduk Split), Bruno Petkovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Mislav Orsic (Dinamo Zagreb)

MOROCCO

Most valuable player:

Achraf Hakimi (£56.3m)

Overall squad value:

£209m

Most capped player:

Romain Saiss (71)

Leading goalscorer:

Hakim Ziyech (19)

Total caps:

6017

Total goals:

74

Oldest player:

Munir Mohamedi (33)

Youngest player:

Bilal El Khannous (18)

Average age:

26.2

SQUAD IN FULL

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla), Munir (Al-Wehda), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (Wydad)

Defenders: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich), Romain Saiss (Besiktas), Nayef Aguerd (West Ham), Achraf Dari (Brest), Jawad El Yamiq (Real Valladolid), Yahia Attiat-Allah (Wydad), Badr Benoun (Qatar SC)

Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Selim Amallah (Standard Liege), Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers), Bilel El Khanouss (Genk), Yahya Jabrane (Wydad)

Forwards: Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea), Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Sofiane Boufal (Angers), Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse), Abde Ezzalzouli (Osasuna), Anass Zaroury (Burnley), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers), Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Ittihad), Walid Cheddira (SSC Bari)

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