Slovenia are managing four injury doubts ahead of today’s Euro 2024 clash with Denmark, who will rely on their esteemed Manchester United duo to kickstart their tournament in fine fashion.
The last tournament Slovenia qualified for was the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where they narrowly missed out on advancing from their group after losing their last match to England.
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These two teams are certainly no strangers to each other, having been drawn into the same Euro 2024 qualifying group.
Both finished level on 22 points, although Denmark came top due to a better head-to-head record. Denmark managed to pick up a point away in Slovenia, before beating them 2-1 at home.
Slovenia have never previously progressed through to the knockout stages of a major tournament, whereas Denmark are far more successful. They’ve made the semi-finals of the Euros three times, including at Euro 2020, and won the tournament in 1992.
However, they’ve struggled since their run in 2021. They finished bottom of their group at the 2022 World Cup, only scoring one goal. Despite a better showing during their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, they were mostly playing weaker sides and have yet to prove they can hit the heights of 2021 and early 2022 again.
They’ve maintained the same core which nearly led them to the final three years ago, although they’ve benefited from the return of Christian Eriksen and the emergence of Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund.
Slovenia are led by a young star striker of their own, Benjamin Sesko, who attracted attention from Arsenal and Chelsea before he signed a contract extension with RB Leipzig this week.
Atletico Madrid legend Jan Oblak captains the team, and he’s widely considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world still.
There are injury doubts over midfielders Benjamin Verbic and Sandi Lovric plus defenders Peta Stojanovic and Miha Blazic.
After meeting Serbia on Sunday, England will play both teams to finish off the group stage, and will be watching this match keenly.
Confirmed team news
Slovenia XI: Oblak; Karnicnik, Drkusic, Bijol, Janza; Stojanovic, Cerin, Elsnik, Mlakar; Sporar, Sesko
Subs: Belec, Vekic, Balkovec, Blazic, G. Stankovic, Verbic, Lovric, Kurtic, Horvat, Vipotnik, Celar, Brekalo, Zugelj, Zeljkovic, Ilicic
Denmark XI: Schmeichel; Andersen, Christensen, Vestergaard; Kristiansen, Hjulmand, Eriksen, Hojbjerg, Bah; Hojlund, Wind
Subs: Hermansen, Ronnow, Kjaer, Maehle, Jensen, Delaney, Skov Olsen, Dolberg, Jorgensen, Damsgaard, Norgaard, Poulsen, Dreyer, Kristensen, Bruun Larsen
Time and date: 5pm BST on Sunday June 16, 2024
Venue: Stuttgart Arena
TV channel: ITV1
