Calf injury rules Barca's Rakitic out of Croatia friendlies

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has been ruled out of Croatia's upcoming friendlies against Israel and Hungary with a calf injury.

Rakitic underwent an MRI scan on Tuesday and the results have shown that he is unavailable for selection for the clash against Israel in Osijek on Wednesday, and the trip to Budapest three days later.

The Croatian Football Federation did not confirm the severity of Rakitic's injury so it remains to be seen if he will be available for Barca's Clasico contest against rivals Real Madrid on April 2 at Camp Nou.

Marko Pjaca (shoulder) is also out of the matches, but Croatia head coach Ante Cacic is not planning to name any replacements.

"There is not enough time for many training sessions, and we want to test the players during the matches with Israel and Hungary, to give them as many minutes as possible," he said.

"We want to find out as much as possible about our team, while the squad list for the Euro 2016 is not yet final. There will be some changes in our system, too."