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Croatian right-back Sime Vrsaljko may be prevented from playing Wednesday's semifinal against England, following orders from Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone.
Vrsaljko suffered a knee injury during the quarter-final extra time against Russia, and was quickly subbed off. Croatia finally won the match 4-3 on penalties.
Despite his discomfort, Vrsaljko informed Zlatko Dalic that he wanted to play Wednesday in the semi-final against England. This is the first semifinal of Croatia in a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup, so Vrsaljko will absolutely not want to miss such a historic match.
However, according to reports of London Evening Standard The hierarchy of Atletico Madrid with his manager Diego Simeone insists that the 26-year-old misses the match. They worry that if he plays, he worsens the injury and damages Atletico 's preparations for next season. Vrsaljko suffered a similar injury in March 2017 and could not play for four months.
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The decision will eventually return to Croatia's manager, Zlatko Dalic, and it is likely that he will pay little attention to Diego Simeone's demands. Dalic has the reputation of being the only manager to choose only players in top form, which means that Vrsaljko dreams of playing in a semi-final of the World Cup .
The manager of Atletico Simeone should be careful advice, that this does not lead to alienate Vrsaljko. In 2014, Angel Di Maria was ordered not to participate in the 2014 World Cup final by his club Real Madrid which led Di Maria to leave Los Blancos in the summer.
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If Dalic chooses not to risk the return of Vrsaljko, the former defender of Tottenham Vedran Corluka, will take his place in Croatia, at l. rear of four.
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