Borna Barisic reckons a dream season at Rangers has filled him with confidence for a deep run in the Euros.
The Ibrox defender is gearing up for a last-16 shot at Spain in Copenhagen as Croatia aim to repeat their heroics of three years ago when they reached the World Cup Final.
Barisic is back in the mix for the showdown having recovered from a back injury to get a first outing at the tournament as a sub in the midweek win over Scotland at Hampden.
And, with the magic of his campaign in Light Blue still fresh in the memory, the left-back is rammed full of belief for the challenges ahead.
Barisic played a starring role as Steven Gerrard’s troops went unbeaten throughout the entire 38-game Premiership term to lift the trophy.
It was the perfect on-pitch build-up to the Euros as he said: “Yes, absolutely. When you have a season like the season I had, not just on a personal level but all of the club, then of course that brings a lot of self confidence.
“We had big matches at Rangers with the championship and also the Europa League.
“So all of that big number brings a lot of confidence, especially in big matches for the national team.
“I didn’t think about it during the season because I was focused on Rangers during that time and winning the championship.
“But, at the moment when we won, I started focusing more and more on the Euros. This is really the cherry on top for me personally after this season with Rangers.”
Having missed the opening matches against England and Czech Republic, Barisic was delighted to finally get a taste of the tournament when he made his late cameo appearance against Steve Clarke’s team.
It was an ideal outcome for the Ibrox ace as the crucial victory kept his nation in the competition and pushed them into the knockout phase.
Barisic says the win at Hampden has boosted morale and also earned him congratulations and a new Euros support base amongst his mates in the Ibrox dressing room who are now backing the Croatia bid.
Asked about messages from Rangers, he said: “Even ahead of the tournament and ahead of the match, they wished me good luck.
“After the match, people congratulated me and there were messages that we deserved the win and we deserved to go through and that they were supporting Croatia further on in the tournament which made me very happy. We have a lot of support from Scotland.
“The game against Scotland did give us a lot of confidence and a boost of energy and belief.
“It did give us a jumping off point for everything that is coming now.
“But that is behind us and we need to be focusing on the next match and preparing for everything. It might be more difficult, but the Scotland game gives a reason to build up optimism for what is coming.
“Of course there are going to be differences from the past matches. Spain love possession and they have excellent qualities in terms of keeping the ball.
“They are dangerous when they have it, so, of course, we have to set ourselves up for a different match and a different style of play compared to the three group games.
“We saw Spain in the last game. They are an excellent team as they have always been.
“They have excellent and technical players and it is going to be a big challenge to play against them.
“It’ll be difficult but we have a lot of confidence and belief, especially after the last match with Scotland. We got ourselves out of the situation we were in, which had not started well.”
Spain are favourites for Monday’s clash but Barisic said: “That’s kind of a double-edged sword. When you are going into a game not as favourite then maybe you are a little bit more relaxed mentally.
“But then if you are not the favourite it means the team you’re playing against, at least theoretically, is better.
“The one thing for sure is that it’s not going to be an easy match. We know how good Spain are.
“But I am very optimistic. I don’t have any doubts about our quality, which we have shown so many times in the past.
“If we build our attitude and style of play based on our last game then I do believe we will play an excellent match against Spain.
“We have confidence and faith and our fans are coming back to the stands, which we were really missing, so we believe we will have a great game against Spain.”
Having been forced to play in front of just a handful of their supporters in the Group D matches at Wembley and Hampden, Barisic and his colleagues will also have the backing of thousands of Croats in Copenhagen.
Their section for the Parken Stadium sold out in four hours and he said: “Having our fans there is something that’s very necessary for us. We are really craving that because we have a special relationship with them.
“It was a big drawback in London and Glasgow that we didn’t have our fans there.
“The fact so many tickets have been sold for the last 16 in so few hours really tells you how much the fans want to support us. It’s going to mean so much to us.”
