Turkey are through to the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship for the first time at Croatia’s expense after a thrilling match in Vienna was decided on penalties after the two sides had swapped goals in the final moments of extra time.

Sensational comeback
When Ivan Klasnić headed in Luka Modrić’s cross with a minute of the overtime period to play, Croatia looked to have booked their place in Wednesday’s semi-final against Germany. However, for the third game running, Turkey sensationally hit back at the death to force the first shoot-out of these finals when Semih Şentürk drove in, with the aid of a deflection, from just inside the area. They went on to win 3-1 on penalties after Rüştü Reçber saved Mladen Petrić’s kick following earlier misses from Modrić and Ivan Rakitić. Turkey coach Fatih Terim, though, will struggle to get a team together to play Germany with Emre Aşık, Tuncay Şanlı and Arda Turan all suspended along with Volkan Demirel after being booked here.

Nervy start
Terim, without the banned Volkan Demirel and Mehmet Aurélio and with injuries also taking their toll, made four changes from the side that defeated the Czech Republic dramatically to reach the quarter-finals. The 35-year-old Rüştü, who had played against Croatia coach Slaven Bilić at EURO ‘96™, started in goal, while Bilić reverted to the team that had beaten Germany en route to topping Group B. With so much at stake, both sets of players made nervy starts. On five minutes Turkey right-back Sabri Sarıoğlu’s misplaced pass allowed Rakitić to dart to the byline and he pulled the ball back for Darijo Srna whose shot was blocked by Hakan Balta. It was a portent of things to come as Croatia probed with success down both flanks with Terim’s reshuffled back line struggling to cope with their slick passing.

Olić denied
For Turkey, Hamit Altıntop flashed an early effort wide and Robert Kovač bravely blocked his free-kick, but Bilić’s men were soon in the ascendancy and should have gone ahead on 18 minutes. Croatia fans had descended on Vienna en masse during a baking hot day and they roared as one when Modrić raced clear on the right. His low centre singled out Ivica Olić who crashed a shot off the crossbar before Niko Kranjčar headed the rebound over. Just as against Austria, Croatia lost their way when it looked like they were ready to take a stranglehold on proceedings. Turkey began to enjoy more of the possession and though chances were few, Mehmet Topal drew a gasp from the crowd with a 30-metre drive that whistled just wide.

Rüştü saves
The traffic was soon flowing back towards Rüştü, with Croatia almost given a goal four minutes after the restart. Gökhan Zan’s weak header let Olić in and the veteran goalkeeper had to race off his line to get a finger to the striker’s headed attempt. Rüştü saved from Kranjčar moments later and then, on 70 minutes, Rakitić fired over after a neat one-two with Olić had given him a clear sight of goal inside the box. Knowing their side’s propensity for late goals Turkey supporters grew in confidence as extra time loomed. But as the clocked ticked down Croatia again came close, Rüştü brilliantly tipping away Srna’s curling free-kick on 83 minutes, then blocking from Olić.

Incredible climax
Having taken the match to added time, Turkey started to show more adventure. Stipe Pletikosa did well to parry after Emre Aşık had skipped through the Croatia defence and was then grateful to see Tuncay’s drive flash wide on 102 minutes. In an incredible climax, Klasnić would head Croatia in front in the final minute – Modrić capitalising on an error by Rüştü to provide the assist – only for Semih to hit back with the last kick of the game. His deflected strike flew past Pletikosa, leaving it to a shoot-out to finally tilt the balance in Turkey’s favour.

Turkey coach Fatih Terim claimed, for his side, there is “no limit to success” after they defeated Croatia on penalties to earn a semi-final meeting with Germany. Terim’s men looked to be on the way out when Ivan Klasnić struck in the penultimate minute of extra time, but Semih Şentürk restored parity with the last kick of the game. Turkey then triumphed in the shootout. Croatia coach Slaven Bilić said Turkey have the “X factor” after watching them hit back late on for the third successive match.

Fatih Terim, Turkey coach
I would like to congratulate the Croatia players and coach. They played well but that’s football. You should never give up until the final whistle, that’s what makes football interesting. I congratulate my players, too. Both sides could have won. I think we should be proud and I still haven’t been able to do any damage assessment. Emre Aşık, Tuncay Şanlı and Arda Turan are all suspended [for Germany] because they were booked here, and we have injured players. We have worked very hard over the last two years and deserve to be in this semi-final. If Croatia had won, I would have said they deserved it too, but I’m delighted we did it. I tell my players never to give up. I set them goals and tell them not to be afraid of losing. I think this team could do even better. If only we could have the injured players back, but even without them, we are special. There is something special about this team.

I hope the people enjoy it and I ask them not to make our joy someone else’s tragedy. No win is worth someone’s life, so I ask the Turkish people to enjoy themselves, celebrate and have fun but not to hurt anyone when they do it. To lose a victory in such a short period of time is a serious mental blow for any team – I thought we would have a chance in the shoot-out because of that. If you look at our run, we have always come back and that’s not easy. Let’s hope against Germany we can take the lead. There is no limit to our success. After Croatia scored, I saw players lying on the pitch and I told Arda to get the ball out of the goal and start again. I wasn’t giving up. We could have lost but there were things we could do about it. I always say there is much more we can do as a country of 70 million people and there is more success we can achieve. We seem to come back from the dead. We always do the hard thing, not the easy thing, which shows how good my team are. When you have footballers like this, you just don’t lose.

Slaven Bilić, Croatia coach
This was a good match and I would like to congratulate everyone who took part in it. The game had an incredible ending, the kind you can only find in football. If you sum it up after 120 minutes, we had more opportunities than Turkey. They obviously exerted some pressure on us for a while and were tough opponents but we have beaten better teams so far. We expected them to do all they could to equalise in the last minute or two. Of course, they weren’t bothered about conceding a second as they had to push up to equalise. We received the ball and launched a counterattack which ended in offside.

They didn’t wait for their players to go forward, there were only a couple of them up front, but there was a powerful shot which took a deflection and went in. This is the third match Turkey have won in this extreme manner and if they continue to be lucky and don’t give up, they might even reach the final. It is obvious that they have quality and the X factor which you need in football. Turkey have already shown they’re able to do anything. Having one less rest day than Germany is a handicap and extra time and penalties are also exhausting. They have a number of injured players and suspensions, but some might come back and they won’t give up.

From the moment it became clear that second place in UEFA EURO 2008™ Group A could be decided by a penalty shoot-out between Turkey and the Czech Republic, most neutrals were willing the fixture in Geneva to be drawn, if only for the sheer novelty value. But who knew that regulation time would provide a marathon of drama that made the sprint of spot-kicks superfluous?

Improbable conclusion
It was exciting enough when Arda Turan pulled a goal back not long after the Czech Republic had doubled the lead. Then, when Nihat Kahveci took advantage of a real rarity, a Petr Čech fumble, in the 87th minute, penalties were somehow back on and in circumstances of heightened excitement. Except that Nihat struck again to make it 3-2 with one minute of normal time remaining, for Turkey’s second consecutive late winner. Yet even that was not the end of it, as Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was dismissed for a push on Jan Koller when the ball was out of play – that last detail meaning makeshift replacement Tuncay Şanlı did not have to face an immediate spot-kick and then perhaps several more.

Czech dominance
It all seemed a long time since half-time, when a Turkey victory looked an outside bet. The Czech Republic players were in no mood to put their perfect penalty shoot-out record on the line, judging by their blistering start. The height of Koller and the foraging four-man support of Libor Sionko, Jan Polák, Marek Matějovský and Jaroslav Plašil proved a real handful for a Turkey defence missing the tall Gökhan Zan, not to mention the experience of Emre Belözoğlu in midfield. At this stage, there was no question of Volkan being able to save himself for penalties with Koller, Matějovský and Sionko shooting and crossing from all angles.

Koller threat
It was no surprise when Koller rose high to head in Zdeněk Grygera’s cross on 34 minutes for his 55th and, though he did not know it at the time, final international goal – he had said he would retire after the finals. Not long afterwards Matějovský was taken off with an injury, but David Jarolím proved an able understudy. Koller remained a constant threat, no doubt having been champing at the bit after spending most of Wednesday’s loss here against Portugal on the bench.

Terim switch
Penalties at that point would have been a more than acceptable outcome for Turkey. The supersub against Switzerland, Semih Şentürk, had started but, in an intriguing move, the striker was replaced at the break by Sabri Sarıoğlu, not usually an attacking player. However, although the rain began to pelt down – the harbinger of Turkey’s difficult first-half spell against Switzerland – it was clear Fatih Terim’s switch was just as canny as the one four days earlier in Basel, Sabri proving a tricky right-sided winger.

Unexpected emotions
As time flew by, a shoot-out appeared a possibility, then became a seeming improbability when the sliding Plašil turned in Sionko’s cross. Freed from spot-kick concerns, the Czech Republic fans launched a Mexican wave which would be rudely halted by Arda’s strike. A quarter-hour later and it was the Turkey supporters celebrating. Expect emotions? No one could have predicted this.