Modric captains Croatia in World Cup third place play-off

Luka Modric earns his 162nd cap as he starts for Croatia in Saturday’s World Cup third-place play-off against Morocco at the Khalifa International Stadium.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic made five changes from the team beaten 3-0 by Argentina in the semi-finals, bringing Lovro Majer into the midfield in place of Marcelo Brozovic.

Josip Stanisic and Josip Sutalo come in for their first appearances of the tournament in defence as Dejan Lovren and Josip Juranovic drop to the bench.

Mislav Orsic and Marko Livaja are also included from the start in a repeat of a Group F match against Morocco last month, which finished 0-0.

Hakim Ziyech captains Morocco, with Romain Saiss among the substitutes after injury forced him off early in the 2-0 semi-final loss to France.

Belgium-born teenager Bilal El Khannouss is handed his Morocco debut in midfield alongside Abdelhamid Sabiri. Yahya Attiat-Allah gets the nod at left-back in the absence of Noussair Mazraoui.

Starting line-ups:

Croatia (3-5-2)

Dominik Livakovic; Josip Stanisic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Sutalo; Mislav Orsic, Lovro Majer, Luka Modric (capt), Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic; Marko Livaja, Andrej Kramaric

Coach: Zlatko Dalic (CRO)

Morocco (4-1-2-3)

Yassine Bounou; Achraf Hakimi, Achraf Dari, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat-Allah; Sofyan Amrabat; Abdelhamid Sabiri, Bilal El Khannouss; Hakim Ziyech (capt), Youssef En Nesyri, Sofiane Boufal

Coach: Walid Regragui (MAR)

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (QAT)