RANGERS will be represented at this year’s World Cup in Qatar as Borna Barisic pulls on the Croatia shirt in their bid to go one step further than four years ago in Russia.
Zlatko Dalic’s side were drawn into Group F where they will open their account against Morocco, before tussles with Canada and Belgium.
Morocco v Croatia
Wednesday 23 November 2022
Al Bayt Stadium
10AM BST
Canada v Croatia
Sunday 27 November 2022
Khalifa International Stadium
4PM BST
Croatia v Belgium
Thursday 1 December 2022
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
3PM BST
BORNA’S NATIONAL TEAM HISTORY
While playing for his previous club Osijek, Barisic made his debut for Croatia as a substitute in his side’s 1-1 draw with Chile in an international friendly back in February 2017.
The full-back’s impressive performances earned him a call-up to Croatia’s 32-man preliminary squad for the 2018 World Cup, but he missed out on the final cut as his side suffered defeat in the final to France.
The Croatian further established himself in the national team set-up after making the move to Ibrox in the same year, scoring his first Croatia goal in a 2-1 win over Azerbaijan in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying.
CROATIA’S WORLD CUP HOPES
Barisic and his peers will be targeting qualification to the knockout stages, with 2018 semi-finalists Belgium tipped by many to compete with Croatia for top spot.
Dalic’s side will be buoyed by their appearance in the final in Russia last time out, while they also narrowly missed out on the last eight at UEFA EURO 2020 after an extra time defeat to Spain.
The squad is littered with players competing in Europe’s top five leagues, including Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic, Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic and Tottenham’s Ivan Perisic.
THE MODRIC INFLUENCE
Modric became the first player in a decade other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award when he scooped the accolade in 2018.
The 37-year-old remains one of the finest midfielders on the planet, helping steer Real Madrid to a 14th Champions League crown with his imperious performances last season.
He also broke Scottish hearts by netting in Croatia’s 3-1 victory over Steve Clarke’s side at Hampden Stadium in last summer’s European Championships and, with the very realistic possibility that this could be his last World Cup, Modric will be keen to bow out on a high.
WHAT BORNA SAID
"I'm very happy and proud that one of my dreams is coming true, to go to the World Cup and represent my country and family. I want to thank the club, my teammates and staff, everyone around Rangers, because I will be representing the club and they helped me a lot to achieve this.
"I've been with the national team for a long time now. We have a very good and deep squad. I knew that I needed to be good this season to go to the World Cup. I've been very motivated to play good for Rangers and I'm very happy that I've been called up to play at the World Cup."