Who Are Croatia's Top Stars? Modric, Rakitic, Perisic & Lovren Profiled

Today, we would review the second of Nigeria's World Cup group opponents in Russia, which is The Blazers of Croatia.

The two sides would square off in their opening fixture of the race for the much-coveted global title on June 16th but who are the players they have in their ranks and how has their performances been for their respective club sides?

Danijel Subasic (Monaco): The 33-year old goaltender has been Monaco's undisputed first choice and has starred in 27 matches for the Stade Louis II outfit in the French topflight this campaign.

He is currently sidelined though after he picked up an injury in his side's 3-2 win to Lyon.

Dejan Lovren (Liverpool): The Liverpool defender has made 29 appearances across all competitions for the English giants this term and very much a part of Jurgen Klopp's defensive setup alongside Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip.

Domagoj Vida (Besiktas): Vida joined Besiktas from Dynamo Kyiv last month after impressing in the Ukrainian Premier League, scoring twice in nine outings in the division. He has already made six appearances for his new side in Turkey.

Sime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid): Vrsaljko has 15 appearances under his belt for the Spanish La Liga side this season and is well efficient with crosses and finding attacking teammates, having already laid on four goals.

Matej Mitrovic (Club Brugge): The 24-year old defender swapped Besiktas for Club Brugge and has turned out four times for the club while finding the net on his debut, a 4-1 loss to Uche Agbo's Standard Liege in a Belgian Cup game.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid): The Real Madrid lynchpin has been instrumental to Los Blancos dominance in Europe and have made 30 appearances for the La Liga club this season, scoring twice while laying on a further three goals.

Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona): In 37 appearances across all competitions for the Spanish La Liga champions-elect this term, Rakitic has had a hand in a combined eight goals(4 goals, 4 assists).

Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan): Perisic has contributed 13 goals from 26 appearances for the Serie A giants this term and is consistently a plausible source of goals for the club.

Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan): The 25-year old midfielder has equally knitted up his impressive performances for Milan with important goals and assists as well, and in 18 topflight outings, he has scored thrice and laid on four other goals.

Mario Mandzukic (Juventus): The Juventus striker has seven goals and three assists across 29 appearances for his side this season though he has been forced to endure a recent goal drought, having failed to find the net in any of his last seven games for the club.

Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim): The 26-year old striker has weighed in with five goals and four assists for the Bundesliga club this season after making 22 appearances in the topflight.

Emmanuel Chinaza