Rangers defender Borna Barisic was given a rest on Tuesday night.
Croatia may have reached the World Cup in Russia this summer, but they have suffered a nightmare start to their first UEFA Nations League campaign.
Zlatko Dalic’s men came so close to winning the World Cup, but he was instantly hit with three post-World Cup retirements in Danijel Subasic, Vedran Corluka and Mario Mandzukic.
That means that Croatia are attempting to bed in some new faces, and Spain took full advantage of that with a thumping 6-0 win over the Croats in Elche.
Saul Niguez, Marco Asensio, Rodrigo, Sergio Ramos and Isco were all on the scoresheet, whilst a Lovre Kailinic own goal to make it 3-0 earlier in the game summed up a torrid evening.
That was Croatia’s heaviest defeat in their history, and whilst that period of bedding in new players may be tough, Dalic’s side still featured the likes of Sime Vrsaljko, Ivan Rakitic, Marcelo Brozovic, Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Mateo Kovacic.
Surprisingly, Josip Pivaric was given the nod at left back over Borna Barisic, despite the fact that the Rangers star had impressed in the 1-1 friendly draw with Portugal on Thursday.
Barisic, 25, is fighting to become Croatia’s first-choice left back in light of Ivan Strinic discovering a heart problem, putting his career on hold, but Barisic had to watch from the bench against Spain as an unused substitute.
Unsurprisingly, Rangers fans took to Twitter to offer their thoughts, and mocked Croatia for not picking Barisic, believing that the 6-0 defeat was a direct consequence of not picking the Ibrox ace, as they wouldn’t have conceded so many goals if they had picked the left back – but they should have learnt for future not to leave Steven Gerrard’s summer signing out of the side.
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