The Inter winger must now spend 10 days in self-isolation and could play no further part in the tournament
Ivan Perisic will miss Croatia’s Euro 2020 last-16 tie against Spain on Monday after testing positive for coronavirus.
Croatia are due to take on Spain at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, but will do so without Inter winger Perisic following the latest results of tests within the national team camp.
Perisic must now spend 10 days in self-isolation and could play no further part in the European Championship depending upon the outcome of Croatia’s clash with Luis Enrique’s side.
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What has been said?
The Croatian Football Association released a statement which read: “During the evening, the Croatian Football Association received the results of regular testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which showed that national team member Ivan Perisic was positive for coronavirus.
“The medical service of the national team isolated Ivan from other members of the national team and immediately informed the relevant epidemiological service in detail about the situation, with evidence of compliance with all measures to protect against the spread of coronavirus.
“Perisic will spend 10 days in self-isolation and in that period he will not compete in the matches of the Croatian national team.
“All other national team members, staff members and delegations are negative.”
How big a loss will Perisic be?
The 32-year-old has been an integral figure for the national team for many years now and has won over 100 caps for Croatia.
He was a huge influence in Croatia’s run to the 2018 World Cup final, delivering a man-of-the-match display in the semi-final success over England before scoring in the final defeat by France.
At Euro 2020, Perisic started all three of Croatia’s group games, against England, the Czech Republic and Scotland.
He scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw with the Czechs and the third goal in the 3-1 victory over Scotland which secured the team’s place in the last 16.
The bigger picture
With Perisic now due to spend 10 days in self-isolation, there is a strong likelihood that he will not be involved again at Euro 2020.
In addition to missing the Spain tie, Perisic would also have to sit out a potential quarter-final date against either France or Switzerland.
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