CROATIA coach Slaven Bilic admitted a past memory of England coach Fabio Capello will ensure his side will not take the World Cup qualifier between the two teams lightly.

Sep 10 2008 by Peter Guy, Liverpool Daily Post

Bilic can recall the 1994 European Cup final when Capello masterminded a shock 4-0 AC Milan victory over red-hot favourites Barcelona. Now the former Everton and West Ham player knows the expectations are on his side to beat England after overcoming them twice in the Euro 2008 qualification group.

Bilic said: “There is more expectation and pressure on us this time. We are always under pressure. We don’t want to run away from this pressure.

“We are Croatia and, of course, you are under pressure. If you want to be in the top five or so in the world rankings and compete with the best and qualify for the World Cup, you have to cope with the pressure.

“The way England are approaching this game is that we are favourites and that England don’t stand a chance and it reminds me of the 1994 European Cup final, Barcelona v Milan.

“Barcelona had a lot of star players and Capello was in charge of Milan and two weeks before everyone was saying Barcelona were going to kill them – and it finished 4-0 for AC Milan.

“I don’t know if Barcelona were approaching that game like it was a jolly-up but we are not like that. We are full of respect for this England team.

“They have world-class players, who have been key players for their clubs week in and week, and we know it is going to be hard and we are full of respect – but we are very confident.”