Croatia defender Josip Pivaric has suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury and, as a result, he will not represent his country at the 2016 European Championship finals.
The Dinamo Zagreb footballer picked up the injury in a friendly game against Stromsgodset and he will be out for at least six months, reports in Croatia suggest.
“It couldn’t get any worse”, said Josip Pivaric, who made two appearances for Croatia on the road to Euro 2021.
Croatia coach Ante Cacic has expressed his disappointment as well.
“This is a big blow for us. We need a left back and he was playing well”, said Ante Cacic.
Ante Cacic’s men finished their Euro 2021 qualifying campaign in second place in Group H, four points behind Italy.
Croatia have been drawn alongside Turkey, Czech Republic and Spain in Group D at Euro 2021. The Vatreni take on Israel in a friendly on 23 March, before facing Hungary three days later.