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| - Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said it would be hard to find a replacement for Ivan Perisic after the Inter Milan winger was ruled out of Monday's Euro 2020 last-16 tie with Spain following a positive Covid-19 test. Perisic scored twice in three group matches to help Croatia qualify for the knockout phase at the European Championship after a slow start to the tournament. But he must now isolate for 10 days and would therefore miss the quarter-finals and semi-finals should 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia make it that far. "It was a shock for all of us definitely," Dalic said in Copenhagen on Sunday after receiving news of Perisic's test result the previous evening. "At the very last moment we were without one of the best players in the group phase, but this can happen and we have to adapt. "I know it's not easy for him, I know that he feels well. He was in great shape, he scored two goals, but that's what happens in life." Dalic has options in attack with Mislav Orsic, Josip Brekalo, Ante Rebic and Andrej Kramaric in the squad, but admitted he was unlikely to experiment too much. "We're not going to be too inventive. We'll try and use what we know," he said. "I'm sure whoever is going to replace Perisic is going to be an adequate change. Maybe it's not going to be exactly Perisic, that's difficult, but there are good players who can replace him successfully." The 32-year-old Perisic was one of Croatia's key men in their run to the World Cup final three years ago. He has scored 30 times in 104 appearances, with nine of those goals coming at major international tournaments. mw/as
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