Ivan Rakitic: 'Croatia will have millions on World Cup final pitch'

Ivan Rakitic has stated that Croatia will have "4.5m players on the pitch" when they face France in Sunday's World Cup final.

The Vatreni defeated England 2-1 after extra time in Wednesday night's semi-final to book their place in the final at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

Rakitic believes that the pride of representing the smallest country to make the World Cup final in 68 years will motivate Croatia to create footballing history.

"This is a historic game for not just us, but for everybody who is a Croat. There are 4.5m players on the pitch," the Barcelona midfielder is quoted by Sky Sports News as saying.

"We will carry one another, we will have the energy, we know this is the biggest game of our lives.

"We want to leave the pitch with our heads held high. We just need a little bit of luck to get the result."

Croatia's previous best finish at the World Cup was third at France 1998, a tournament won by the host nation and Sunday's fellow finalists in Russia.