• Pressure on a high-quality squad to get out of the group stage • ‘We won’t give up on attacking football,’ Zlatko Dalic says

Croatia enter the World Cup on Saturday, their Golden Generation beginning what is surely a last quest towards making an impact on the greatest stage. The core of the team, Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic and Juventus’s Mario Mandzukic are in their 30s and unlikely to feature in four years’ time.

The quality of the squad means there is pressure to perform but Modric believes the expectation is justified. “I think we have a very good generation of players,” he said. “We have players at big clubs, they don’t just play there, they’re the driving forces of those clubs. It is only right there are great expectations.”

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He said the first target for Croatia, who face Nigeria, is to get out of a tricky group that contains Argentina and Iceland, and “after that, anything is possible”.

Croatia’s preparations for the tournament have been overshadowed by a court case against Zdravko Mamic, one of the most influential figures in Croatian football, and involving Modric and the Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren. Last week Mamic, who denies all charges, was sentenced to six and a half years in jail after being found guilty on a set of charges that included making illegal personal profits on player transfers from Dinamo Zagreb.

Modric has been charged with perjury in the Mamic case and Lovren is being investigated for giving a false testimony. The Real Madrid playmaker grew irritable when asked about the case on Friday. “Nothing smarter to ask? It’s a World Cup, it’s not about other things. How long did you prepare for asking this kind of question?” Modric said, before the moderator moved the discussion on to the next question. Lovren has previously refused to comment.

Zlatko Dalic promised an uncompromising attacking start by Croatia. “We have our own style,” the manager said. “We are not going to give up on tactical, attacking football. We will adjust to the young team of Nigeria, particularly when they are on the attack, but I fully believe in my players and I’m not going to impede their guile, their creativity and their technique.”

Croatia are seen as dark horses but have consistently underachieved in recent years and have failed to make it out of the group stages at a World Cup since 1998. “I have a great generation of players and we can get a good result [at the tournament],” said Dalic. “But of course some luck and many other things have to come together.”

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Nigeria have also had their share of problems at World Cups, including internal rifts and striking players but their captain, Mikel John Obi, said on Friday this squad are more united than ever before.

“We don’t have any problems about money. Everything is sorted. There’s no issues at all in the camp. The camp is fine, the boys are happy, we’re ready to go,” he said.

Nigeria are one of the youngest sides at the World Cup, and while Croatia go into the game as firm favourites, Nigeria could cause problems with their energy and enthusiasm.

The match will take place at a new 35,000-seat stadium in Kaliningrad, an isolated Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania and best known for hosting nuclear missiles.