Euro 2024- Slovenia vs Serbia tips and predictions: Goalscoring continues as Serbs stay winless at tournaments
- George Dempsey
- 19 June 2024
Slovenia and Serbia will know the importance of claiming three points in Munich on Thursday (1400 BST) which could lead to an attacking game
Slovenia and Serbia will look to build on the positives from their opening group games against Denmark and England respectively when they meet in Munich on Thursday.
Matjaz Kek’s side extended their unbeaten run to seven matches with Erik Janza’s deflected effort in the 77th minute, battling back from 1-0 in a game of two halves.
The Danish penalty area was just a distance land on the horizon throughout the first half. Their struggles continued in the second half but Jan Oblak kept them in the game.
Adam Cerin’s glaring-headed miss from six yards out seemed to be the turning point as the trailing side grew in confidence, eventually benefiting from a cruel deflection.
Serbia’s 1-0 defeat to England was far less eventful and as unimpressed as spectators may have been with the performance, the Three Lions were the better team.
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The Serbians were extremely organised and tough to break down after weathering an early storm, yet they rarely threatened England’s box, producing 0.18xG over 90 minutes.
The closest they got to the England goal in a disjointed second half was around 25 yards out when Dusan Vlahovic forced Jordan Pickford into a routine tip over the bar.
Both sides displayed battling qualities in their first match, but Slovenia should have been out of sight. For 65 minutes, Denmark did everything they needed to do to win by a comfortable margin, except score.
Dusan Tadic’s absence in the Serbian attack was so noticeable that they failed to link anything together in the final third. His first touch as a second-half substitute so nearly did that.
The expectation is this game will be tight, but both sides will fancy their chances of creating more and may set up more aggressively.
When they met in the Nations League a couple of seasons ago, they played out a 2-2 draw in Slovenia, while Serbia won the reverse fixture 4-1.
Team news
Slovenia will stick with their variation of 4-4-2 with Andraz Sporar and Benjamin Sesko leading the line again.
Filip Kostic is Serbia’s only injury concern after being forced off in the 1-0 defeat to England.
Dusan Tadic could be introduced at the expense of Aleksandar Mitrovic, allowing Dusan Vlahovic to take up a more central role.
Key stats
- Slovenia have lost twice in their last 22 matches across all competitions
- Both teams have scored in six of Slovenia’s last eight matches
- Serbia beat Slovenia 4-1 and drew 2-2 in their most recent Nations League meetings
- Both teams scored in Serbia’s final six European Championship qualifiers
- Serbia are winless in their last six matches at major tournaments
