Comments and statistics of Serbia vs Spain match
Spain are preparing for their first match since beating England 2-1 in the EURO 2024 final. They became the first team to win the tournament four times.
La Roja are the best team on the continent and deserved to win in Germany. They also became the first team to win all seven matches at a major tournament (EURO and World Cup), scoring 15 goals in Germany.
Luis de la Fuente has won 17 of his 21 matches as Spain head coach since taking charge in December 2022.
EURO 2024 is his second major title after helping Spain to glory at the 2022-2023 Nations League.
In fact, Spain topped their group, ahead of Portugal, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. They then overcame Italy in the semi-finals, before beating Croatia on penalties to win the title.
Ranked 3rd in the world by FIFA, Spain are considered the most promising candidate to top Group 4 of Group A in this year’s Nations League. They will play Serbia – an opponent they beat 2-0 in a friendly match in May 2012.
Serbia qualified for EURO 2024 , and with a squad packed with attacking stars, they were expected to make it out of the group stage. However, they failed to do so. The Eagles finished bottom of Group C at EURO 2024 after picking up just two points from games against England, Denmark and Slovenia. The statistics show that coach Dragan Stojkovic has now failed to win in six matches in charge of Serbia at major tournaments.
However, Serbia's form in the Nations League has been better. They won promotion to Group A after winning four of their six games, to top Group 4 of Group B last season. Their opponents at that time were Norway, Slovenia and Sweden.
Ranked 32nd in the world by FIFA, Serbia have actually progressed from League C to League A in their last three Nations League tournaments and boast a record of 9 wins, 6 draws and just 3 losses.
Spain will be a big test for Serbia. Statistics show that in the last 21 international matches since the beginning of 2023, Spain have lost only 2 matches.
Force information
Serbia will be without key duo Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic due to injury, while Dusan Tadic has retired from international football.
Meanwhile, striker Dusan Vlahovic and versatile winger Filip Kostic are also not included in coach Stoijkovic's 25-man squad.
Five uncapped players have been called up by Stojkovic, including Aston Villa right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic, Sunderland midfielder Milan Aleksic and Millwall striker Mihailo Ivanovic, all of whom are hopeful of making appearances for Spain.
Luka Jovic is expected to start in Mitrovic's absence, while Sasa Lukic and Marko Grujic or Ivan Ilic could combine in central midfield.
For Spain, Unai Simon (wrist injury), Mikel Merino (shoulder), Alvaro Morata (thigh) and Fermin Lopez (muscle) are all ruled out through injury, while Jesus Navas, 38, has retired from international football.
Star midfielder Rodri is yet to play for Man City this season, but he is fit and available, while 26-year-old Valencia midfielder Pepelu has received his first call-up and is in contention to make his debut.
The absence of goalkeeper Simon could see Arsenal's David Raya start, while Mikel Oyarzabal is expected to lead the line in Morata's absence, with attacking support from wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
Expected lineup of 2 teams:
Serbian team: Rajkovic, Veljkovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Lukic, Ilic, Zivkovic, Samardzic, S. Mitrovic; Jovic.
Spain team: Raya, Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella, Rodri, Fabian, Yamal, Olmo, Williams, Oyarzabal.
Score prediction: Serbia 1-2 Spain.
