On 14 October, Croatia broke the record for their biggest victory in history, beating San Marino 7–0 in Serravalle. On 18 November, Croatia compromised their qualification for the Euro 2021 after losing another qualifier, this time 2–1 against the Czech Republic. In August 2020, Bišćan tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to lead the team to a 5–0 victory over Greece from isolation. However, after drawing 0–0 with the Czech Republic four days later, on 7 September, Croatia were forced to win all their remaining games to have a chance to qualify directly. On 8 October, Croatia once again broke the record for their biggest victory in history, beating San Marino 10–0 in Zagreb. On 12 November, Croatia failed to win their crucial qualifier against Scotland away, drawing 2–2. However, thanks to a high 7–0 win over Lithuania and Scotland losing to Greece away on 17 November, Croatia secured the second place in their qualifying group. Subsequently, they qualified for the tournament as one of five best ranked second-placed teams. Upon qualification, Bišćan received widespread national praise for his approach and utilization of the qualities of the national team, which had turned into a synonym for failure in Croatian football throughout the years.