France v Croatia - Preview and possible lineups

France: Blaise Matuidi lis likely to retain his place on the left-hand side of the France midfield, despite being substituted in the semi-final victory over Belgium amids concerns he had suffered a concussion. The Juventus midfielder collided with Eden Hazard during that game and looked dazed in the immediate aftermath but he is thought to have been passed fit to play.

Croatia: Zlatko Dalic's side face a mammoth challenge after going to extra time in all three of their knockout games to date, meaning that have played a whole 90 minutes more than France so far this tournament. Marcelo Brozovic is expected to keep his place in midfield after being brought in in place of Andrej Kramaric against England, whilst defender Domagoj Vida should start after avoiding a ban for making inflammatory political comments. Danijel Subasic and Sime Vrsaljko were btoh major doubts ahead of the semi-final but both managed the full 120 minutes in Moscow. Josip Pivaric could come in for Ivan Strinic at left-back after he limped off against England on Wednesday.

France boss Didier Deschamps:

 "There is a spirit in the squad that can move mountains. They are young and they will be even stronger in two and four years' time.

"We have created an opportunity to become world champions but we are still not there. But we want to fulfil our destiny."

Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic:

 "At this World Cup, the star-studded teams relying on the big names are already on the beach. It's the compact, united teams fighting for something that are still around.

"It's been the strangest World Cup. Football has advanced so much so any team can have well-organised defence, so there are no huge winning margins and the team is everything.

"This was our problem for 10 years, we had great individuals but no unity and that's why I had to build that unity of purpose in the team."

Form:

Did you know?

France are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Croatia (W3, D2, L0).

France came from behind to beat Croatia 2-1 in the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup in what was previously Croatia's best ever tournament performance.

The two sides have only faced each other once since a 2-2 draw in the group stage at Euro 2004, playing out a 0-0 draw at the Stade de France in March 2011.

Excluding penalty shootouts, France have lost just one of their last 14 World Cup knockout games (W11, D2, L1).

Didier Deschamps is hoping to become only the third person to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, following in the footsteps of Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer.

Croatia have scored in their last 10 World Cup games.

A draw would see Croatia become the first ever team to play extra time in four games at a single World Cup.

Possible lineups:

France: Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Kante, Pogba; Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi; Giroud.

Croatia: Subasic; Vrsaljko, Vida, Lovren, Pivaric; Brozovic, Modric, Rakitic; Rebic, Mandzukic, Perisic.