Spain wants to tighten their hold on top of their group in League A of the 2024/25 Nations League season when they welcome Serbia at Cordoba on Tuesday night.
SPN vs SER Match Details
Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2024 / Thursday, 16 October 2024
Time: 21:00 (CET), 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Estadio Nuevo Arcángel, Cordoba
SPN vs SER Match Preview
Martin Zubimendi’s strike in the 79th minute sealed a 1-0 win for Spain helping them overtake Denmark to the top spot in their group. The game was a cagey affair with La Roja not hitting their best in the match but the team have made a habit of swinging games to their favour which also helped them clinch the Euro Championship this summer. Luis de la Fuente's side wants to continue their run collecting seven points from three games in the Nations League this season. However, they faced the only side that halted them from winning or scoring since March this year with a goalless draw in their competition opener in Serbia at Cordoba. Spain will feel that was a small whisker in the otherwise perfect run in the period, including 12 wins and scoring 30 goals. The team will have to play the fixture without the wonderkid Lamine Yamal who pulled out from the squad with a hamstring strain sustained in the last match with other key absentees.
Serbia felt proud of the result of sharing a point with the Euro winners in their opening match after failing at the group stages of Euro 2024 but the smiles faded when they lost 2-0 to Denmark in the following game. However, the team started this month on a decent note securing a solid 2-0 win over bottom-placed Switzerland to put them back into top-two contention. Aleksandar Mitrovic’s strike and Nico Elvedi’s own goal secured full points for the Serbs as their attention now turns towards the daunting trip to the leaders. Despite their memorable result in the reverse clash, Serbia are under pressure to deliver again against the host showing no signs of slowing down. Stojkovic's side has only lost one of their last five games in all competitions but that record will be challenged now having lost the previous meeting away 2-0 although a defeat will not end their hopes of a top-two spot completely.
SPN vs SER Recent Form (all competitions)
SCO: WWDWW
POR: DDDLW
SPN vs SER Recent Form (Nations League)
SCO: WDDWW
POR: WLWWW
SPN vs SER Recent Form (Nations League 2024-25)
SCO: DWW
POR: WWW
SPN vs SER Squads
Spain
Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon, Jon McCracken, Robby McCrorie
Defenders: Andrew Robertson, Grant Hanley, Anthony Ralston, Ryan Porteous, John Souttar, Nicky Devlin, Liam Lindsay, Jack MacKenzie
Midfielders: Ryan Christie, Scott McTominay, Kenny McLean, James Forrest, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Morgan, Ben Doak, Ryan Gauld, Andy Irving
Forwards: Lyndon Dykes, Ché Adams, Deniz Undav, Kevin Nisbet
Serbia
Goalkeepers: Predrag Rajković, Aleksandar Jovanović, Veljko Ilić
Defenders: Nikola Milenković, Strahinja Pavlović, Strahinja Eraković, Kosta Nedeljković, Jan-Carlo Simić
Midfielders: Nemanja Maksimović, Marko Grujić, Lazar Samardžić, Veljko Birmančević, Saša Zdjelar, Nikola Čumić, Andrija Maksimović, Dejan Zukić, Aleksandar Ćirković
Forwards: Luka Jović, Dejan Joveljić, Mihailo Ivanović, Aleksandar Mitrović
SPN vs SER Predicted Lineups
Spain
Raya; Porro, Vivian, Laporte, Grimaldo; Zubimendi, Ruiz; Baena, Pedri, Oyarzabal; Morata
Serbia
Rajkovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Maksimovic, Grujic, Biramcevic; Samardzic, Mitrovic, Lukic
SPN vs SER Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Fabián Ruiz
Vice-captain Picks: Álvaro Morata, Aleksandar Mitrovic
SPN vs SER Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Rajkovic (Cr - 7.5)
DEF: Pavlovic (Cr - 8.5), Laporte (Cr - 8.5), Grimaldo (Cr - 7.5)
MID: Samardzic (Cr - 8), Ruiz (Cr - 9), Pedri (Cr - 8.5), Baena (Cr - 7)
FW: Morata (Cr - 9), Mitrovic (Cr - 8.5), Oyarzabal (Cr - 8)
Vice-captain: Álvaro Morata
Captain: Fabián Ruiz
Spain vs Serbia Match Prediction
Spain should be securing a win here to seek revenge for their result against Serbia in the reverse fixture and take a step closer to cementing their place in the finals. We predict a 2-1 win for La Roja.
