Russia v Croatia: Will the Russian roulette roll on?

Semi-final place is within touching distance

The last of the four quarter-finals will see Russia take on Croatia for a place in the semi-final of the World Cup.

A mob of Russian fans will descend on Sochi in their droves, the city is sure to have never seen anything like it. Even if they did host the Winter Olympics in 2014.

They enjoyed success when part of the Soviet Union but as Russia they’ve already achieved the unthinkable. They left the 2002 and 2014 tournaments with a combined points tally of 5.

Croatia will be looking to equal their best performance on international football’s grandest stage. They got to the last-four twenty years ago at France ’98.

The Coral News Team look at how this one could play out…

Luka Modric

Croatia boast a hatful of talent amongst their ranks. Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic and Mateo Kovacic have won the Champions League. And Ivan Perisic has been a prolific player in Europe.

But one man stands out above them all. The captain. Leader and talisman. Luka Modric.

The Real Madrid midfielder glides around the pitch looking unflustered. He has a pass success rate of 85.4% for the tournament. Making 60 passes on average per game and notching two goals to date.

The 32-year-old may feel this is his final swansong to thrust his nation into the spot-light.

It certainly won’t be easy against an inspired Russian outfit but Modric may have bit more magic to muster.

Russian togetherness