Shock Croatia win delights Bilic

Jubilant Croatia coach Slaven Bilic hailed his side after their surprise 2-1 win over Germany secured their place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals.

"It was a great game. But I want to congratulate my players - not only for the fight they showed but for playing an excellent match," said Bilic.

"There is no other way to beat the Germans than to play well.

"We controlled the game but Germany are still a great team and still one of the favourites for the title."

Darijo Srna put Bilic's side ahead in the first half and Ivica Olic made it 2-0 before Lukas Podolski's late consolation for Germany.

606: DEBATE
"Judging from this performance, Germany looked pretty average whilst Croatia were a formidable force"
funkeycooldude

New Tottenham signing Luka Modric, who will complete his £15.8m move from Dinamo Zagreb after the tournament, was instrumental in Croatia's victory.

Modric's promptings in midfield helped Croatia turn in a display which was a huge improvement on their patchy performance against Austria in their first match.

"We are overjoyed by this win, we started off playing tough, the way we wanted to," said Modric.

"We wanted to exert pressure on our opponents so as not to allow them to develop their own game.

"We also wanted to show that the criticism after the first match was uncalled for."

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BBC Sport's Euro 2008 blog
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Uefa: Euro 2008
Uefa venue guide: Klagenfurt
Official Croatia website
Official Germany website
Croatia hungry for success
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