Serbia and Costa Rica open their World Cup Group E accounts on Sunday (16:00).

Both teams are vying for second spot in the group alongside Switzerland, with Brazil the heavily-fancied favourites to top proceedings.

Our talking points and key battles analyse this contest in more detail and here, we take a closer look at the team news ahead of the clash at the Samara Stadium.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, a man linked with both Manchester United and Real Madrid, will start in a midfield also containing Red Devils star Nemanja Matic.

Meanwhile, Serbia skipper Branislav Ivanovic, who spent nine years with Chelsea, is set to win his 104th international cap and become his country’s most-capped player.

In the Costa Rica line-up, a familiar face to football fans will be the presence of Los Blancos star Keylor Navas in goal, and Bryan Ruiz, once of Fulham, will occupy the attacking midfield position.

LIKELY LINE-UPS:

Costa Rica
Formation: 5-4-1
Navas; Gonzalez, Duarte, Acosta, Gamboa, Oviedo; Guzman, Borges, Ruiz, Bolanos; Urena

Serbia
Formation 4-5-1
Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Milenkovic, Tosic, Kolarov; Matic, Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic, Ljajic, Kostic; Mitrovic