Croatia coach Ante Cacic insisted that Malta are not to be taken lightly despite their lowly position in Group H.

While Croatia are widely tipped to collect maximum points from their must-win Euro 2016 qualifier against Malta tonight, Cacic warned that the hosts will be very motivated to wrap up their campaign on a high.

“I only saw the first 20 minutes of Malta’s game against Norway because we played Bulgaria on the same night but I know them well,” Cacic said.

“Malta will be very motivated to do well because Croatia are one of the top teams in Europe. It’s never easy for us here, although we have mostly won our games in Malta.

“But, we have to be very careful, focused and highly motivated. Malta are a better team than their position in the group shows.”

Croatia are third in Group H on 17 points, two behind Norway who are away to leaders Italy tonight.

Given that their hopes of securing automatic qualification for Euro 2016 rest on Italy beating Norway, Croatia will be eagerly awaiting news from Rome tonight but Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic said that his team will not be distracted from the task at hand.

“The most important thing is to concentrate on what we can do,” Rakitic said.

“We have to prepare and focus on our game rather than think about what’s happening in the Italy game.

“We have to play a perfect game here. We know that we are facing a motivated team in Malta, so we have to be careful.

“Obviously, we also hope that Italy do a good job in their match against Norway.”

Although Croatia have hit a rocky patch in recent months, Rakitic sees a very bright future for the national team.

“Our footballing history is really special,” Rakitic said. “A lot of players play for big clubs and by working together, we can help the national team.

“I hope that, in the next few years, we will become even stronger. The future is bright because we also have many young players with top clubs.

“I hope that we start a new chapter tomorrow with a good win in Malta.”