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Croatia v Albania

The games are coming thick and fast at the Euros and Croatia and Albania face off on matchday 2 in Group B. It’s a massive game for both sides as neither team has points on the board yet, making this a must not lose (if not must-win) game.

It’s a feast of football this summer, and we’re all over the action here at Andy’s Bet Club with our Euro 2024 betting predictions, each individual game is covered, including this one with this betting preview and our Croatia v Albania bet builder tips.

We’ll have daily Euro 2024 acca tips and both teams to score predictions throughout the tournament, alongside our daily shot on target predictions and foul betting tips to use with the best bet builder bookmakers sites when crafting yourself a bet builder using our expert football tips.

For those of you looking for some Euro 2024 free bets & sign up offers, we’ve carefully curated a list of the best ones.

Croatia were soundly beaten in the end by a Spanish side who were firing on all cylinders. Despite this, they created chances and had a bizarre penalty situation and a disallowed goal. They will take some optimism from that secondhalf performance and go into this game expecting a much better result.

Albania got off to an astonishing start in gameweek 1 against Italy, scoring the fastest-ever goal at the Euros. Sadly, they weren’t able to maintain their lead and lost 2-1 to the Italians in the end, but will take immense pride in the way they competed and will have reason to believe they can secure at least a point against the Croatians if they stick to their game plan and maintain their work ethic.

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Croatia v Albania Best Bets

➡️ Albania goalkeeper to make 4+ saves @ 2.0 at Paddy Power
➡️ Albania to receive the most cards @ 1.62 on Paddy Power

Croatia showed their ability to be a real threat against Spain and were unfortunate not to get at least a consolation goal. They finished the game with more shots than Spain, with 16 attempts and five on target. They also hit seven in their last warm-up friendly against Portugal.

With both teams needing a win, this should open up the game and force Albania to come out, leading to gaps and opportunities for the Croats to take advantage of.

Although the calibre of opposition Albania have faced in recent games makes it hard to gauge their level with any accuracy, in their game against Italy they faced five shots on target and conceded six on target in a recent friendly against Sweden. 

Brentford’s backup keeper, Thomas Strakosha, was preferred in goal in the first game but whether he starts or Etrit Berisha is preferred, we expect it to be busy in the Albanian box throughout and our pick would be the Albania Goalkeeper to make 4+ saves at 2.0 with Paddy Power.

Based on the numbers in the last 10 games, Albania have received an average of 1.9 bookings per game, compared to Croatia’s 1.2. In a tightly contested game with Spain, with 27 fouls on the board, Croatia managed to come out of the game unscathed on the card count.

Albania will likely have long periods of the game without possession of the ball which could lead to some frustration on their part. If they do go down early and face a second defeat in succession, desperation may play a part and the card count could easily start to rack up. Therefore, our second play is for Albania to receive the most cards at 1.62 with Paddy Power.

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📂 Croatia v Albania Cheat Sheet

There are so many ways to use our Cheat Sheets and we encourage you to find your own formula to pick a winning bet builder, however, if you’re unsure of how to use a Cheat Sheet, just click the link for some quick tips to help you make the most of it.

You can find Croatia v Albania match stats on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.

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⚔️ Croatia v Albania Head-to-Head

This will be the first meeting between the two sides and as such, we have no head-to-head data to show you.

However, if we look at the results of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, which Croatia was a part of, the Yugoslavs played Albania eight times, winning five and drawing three of the fixtures.

Their last game was in 1977, so this is irrelevant but it’s some interesting trivia to share with your friends if you’re watching this game together.

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📊 Croatia Form and Stats

The defeat to Spain on the first matchday was only Croatia’s second defeat in 11 games, and you would have to go back to June of 2021 for the last time they experienced successive defeats.

Despite losing against the Spanish, they still created an xG output of 2.27 against them. Relevant to this game, Croatia conceded just 0.5 goals per game in their qualifying campaign and averaged 2.23 goals scored per match.

In their six Euros finals appearances, they have never lost their second group stage game, winning two and drawing four.

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📊 Albania Form and Stats

Albania got off to a dream start with their early goal against the Italians but weren’t able to capitalise on the early advantage.

They struggled to create, with an xG of 0.38 and just two shots on target in the match. Their strong qualifying campaign where they lost just once in eight games is proving less of an indication of their strength than their two March friendlies against Sweden and Chile where they lost both, conceding four goals in the process.

History offers a glimmer of hope in the Albanian’s only other Euros finals appearance, where they held France for 90 minutes in their second game in 2016, before succumbing to two late injury-time goals.

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.

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