Spurs playmaker: We’ve set a high standard now

Tottenham playmaker Luka Modric believes that Croatia will have to be at their best to beat Italy and Spain.

The Croatian star admitted that his country do not need to score three goals to beat the previous two World Champions but they do need to keep it tight in defence.

“We knew we’d have to be on top of our game to beat Ireland as they are a difficult opponent,” Modric said.

“We have set a high standard now, scoring three goals against Ireland but we don’t need to do the same against Italy and Spain, we don’t need to score three goals. I don’t care if we only score one as long as we win.

“Spain are one of the best teams in the world now and they will be hard to beat but we’re not thinking about Spain now, we have our focus on Italy on Thursday.

“If we perform against Italy on Thursday like we did last night, we will win. We are close to being where we want to be.”