The in-demand RB Leipzig defender has been nursing a groin injury and was ultimately forced to pull out of the squad, while his World Cup partner Dejan Lovren has now retired from international duty.
With no Gvardiol or Lovren to protect number one Dominik Livakovic, another highly-rated defender in Josip Sutalo should get the nod alongside Sassuolo's Martin Erlic, although 100-cap Domagoj Vida is another option.
Josip Juranovic and Borna Sosa should win their head-to-heads with Josip Stanisic and Borna Barisic to start in the wide areas, and despite his recent exertions in the Champions League final, Marcelo Brozovic will act as Dalic's midfield screen.
Captain Luka Modric is poised to win his 165th cap for Croatia in the engine room alongside Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic, whose future remains the subject of intense speculation amid talk of a move to Manchester City.
Needing just one more goal to hit the 34-mark and become Croatia's outright second-highest scorer of all time, Ivan Perisic starts on the left, as Atalanta BC's Mario Pasalic occupies the other flank.
The duo will expect to be supporting Andrej Kramaric in the wake of Marko Livaja's withdrawal, which came after he was subjected to insults from a few supporters who turned up to watch a recent training session.
Croatia possible starting lineup: Livakovic; Juranovic, Sutalo, Erlic, Sosa; Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic
Athletic Bilbao 
Sevilla 
Atletico Madrid 
Osasuna 
Barcelona 
Rayo Vallecano 
Valencia 
Girona 
Villarreal 
Real Madrid 
Roma 
Genoa 
Le Havre 
Marseille 
Lens 
Montpellier 
Lyon 
Strasbourg 
Metz 
Paris Saint Germain 
Monaco 
Nantes 
Nizhny Novgorod 
CSKA Moscow 
Espanyol 
Oviedo 
Bologna 
Juventus 
Tottenham 
Newcastle 
Atalanta 
Bayer Leverkusen 
Baltika 
Lokomotiv Moscow 
Ural 
Orenburg 
Spartak Moscow 
Manchester Utd 
Manchester City 
Celtic 
Rangers 
Polissya Zhytomyr 
Shakhtar Donetsk 
Rukh Lviv 
Dynamo Kyiv 
FC Kaiserslautern 
Celta Vigo 
Betis 
Real Sociedad 
AC Milan 
Salernitana