Croatia's Rakitic compares Modric to Iniesta: 'They came to play with us mortals'

One of the more mouthwatering potential matchups of the World Cup knockout stage is the prospect of 2010 champion Spain facing Croatia in the quarter-final if both teams win Sunday's last-16 ties.

The key to Croatia's success has been the midfield partnership of Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic and Real Madrid's Luka Modric, both of whom have already scored at this tournament.

Related: 5 things we learned from the World Cup group stage

Rakitic could come up against departing club teammate Andres Iniesta should Croatia beat Denmark and Spain topple host Russia on Sunday. Iniesta is widely regarded as one of the finest midfielders in recent history, but Rakitic believes his national team comrade should be held up alongside the Barca legend.

"Both of them are among the best players ever in their positions," said Rakitic, as reported by BBC Sport.

"It seems like both of them are from different planets and they came to play football with us mortals here.

"It has been a great honour to play with Andres in the last four years at Barcelona, and with Luka for the last 11 years for Croatia. If I created a football team, I would have both of them in my team."

Spain has stuttered somewhat in recent years, but still boasts many of the globe's best players, while this Croatia side has the potential to be the country's greatest ever. Zlatko Dalic's team blew everyone out of the water in Group D, winning it by five points while scoring seven and conceding just one in three games.

Croatia's best-ever finish as an independent nation at the World Cup was third place in 1998, but Rakitic and Modric will likely have their eyes on surpassing that achievement.

Their quest has been helped by winning their group and thus entering the "softer" side of the knockout bracket. Should Croatia beat Denmark on Sunday and overcome (probably) Spain, it will face one of England, Colombia, Sweden, or Switzerland for a place in a first-ever final.