Borna Barisic admits he feared missing out on the Euros.
But the Rangers star is now living his dream and will face Spain in the last 16 with advice and a message of support from Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard ringing in his ears.
Barisic was an integral part of the Croatia squad which qualified for the tournament, yet he had to miss the first two games of the group phase with a back issue, having also missed the final two games of the term for his club with a muscle problem.
However, the 28-year-old recovered to face Scotland in midweek and is now in line for a starting spot against Spain on Monday.
Barisic revealed he was concerned and revealed: “I’ve played a lot of matches with Rangers and, of course, at the end of the season and the end of the championship, my focus was on the European Championships which I had been waiting for so much and had been postponed because of Covid.
“Of course, when I had my first injury at Rangers against Celtic, I was worried about the Euros, I was worried about the condition I’d be in when I came to Croatia.
“I managed to fix that and came in good condition. But, unfortunately, I had an unusual injury with my back and that messed with my plans a bit.
“In my second training session when I came to Rovinj, I injured my back and had problems since then. I managed to briefly fix that, but then it returned.
“Thank God, everything is fine now, everything is good.
“I played those 20 minutes against Scotland and managed to do my part a bit and help the team qualify for the next round.”
Barisic has developed brilliantly under boss Gerrard at Ibrox and still has his backing at the Euros.
The boss played in several major tournaments with England and the left-back added: “I won’t talk about the advice, but he did wish me the best of luck at the tournament.”
