Spain vs Croatia Bet Builder Tips: 12/1 shot for entertaining encounter

Spain’s Euro 2024 campaign swings into action on Saturday (ITV, 17:00), as they take on Croatia at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. This iconic stadium, which hosted the 2006 World Cup final, will see two of Europe’s best teams collide in their opening match. What a game this promises to be. 

Luka Modric’s Croatia have been international threats across the last few tournaments, reaching the final of the World Cup in 2018 and coming third at the last World Cup in Qatar. Experience counts for an awful lot in this game, and they will be hoping to spring a surprise in their opener against Spain. 

Below you can find my Spain vs Croatia Bet Builder Tips.

Spain to win

I think Spain have been slightly underrated heading into this tournament. They won their qualification group in style, with seven wins out of eight, and only a shock loss to Scotland at Hampden Park blemished their perfect record. Under Luis de la Fuente their young players have progressed and this feels like the meeting of two generations. 

On one end of the scale you have Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Nico Williams, while Jesus Navas, Dani Carvajal and Joselu are all well into their 30s. Whether they can find a sweet spot here is yet to be seen, while Croatia are definitely at the end of their cycle. They’ve got experience, but ultimately I think Spain’s quality will shine through. 

Over 3.5 goals and BTTS

Remember when these two met at the last Euros? Spain won 5-3 in extra-time after one of the best international games we have ever seen and there is a real possibility we could see another thriller in this opening game. 

Spain have scored 13 goals in their last three outings, scoring five against both Northern Ireland and Andorra, and three against Brazil back in March. Meanwhile, Croatia have scored nine times in their last three, with an impressive 2-1 win over Portugal rounding off their warm-up matches. Both teams have plenty of attacking quality, so I think both will find the net at some point, with over 3.5 goals being scored in the match. 

Euro 2024 Odds

Alvaro Morata to score

Spain’s captain will lead the line during this tournament and should be fairly profitable. Morata has scored 21 goals in all competitions this season and has an impressive 33 goals in 65 appearances for his country. He’s now the leading man in this squad, and should be able to find the net against Croatia in the opening match. I expect his teammates to provide him with plenty of chances throughout the tournament, and he could end on a decent number of goals. 

Woodwork hit

Given I expect there to be plenty of chances and plenty of goals in this game, a different way to boost our odds is to back the woodwork to be hit at some point during the game. With both teams likely to fire shots in at will, I think this is a likely outcome, and adding it to our Bet Builder gives us odds of 12/1. 

On Saturday, Betfred will be Top Price or joint Top Price on Spain to beat Croatia with selected bookmakers using oddschecker.com for the comparison.

Check out our other Euro 2024 Betting Tips here.