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.

Just 383 days. That is the age gap between Slaven Bilić and Ivica Vastic, two of Thursday’s prime movers but men pushing at totally opposite extremes in their respective trades. While one is the youngest coach in the competition and potentially the youngest ever to lift the trophy, the other is the tournament’s oldest player – and the man whose last-minute equaliser for Austria cemented top spot in Group B for Bilić and his charges.

Tournament contenders
Thanks to Vastic’s strident spot-kick, Croatia will avoid Portugal in the quarter-finals, a meeting many thought they were not only destined for but destined to lose. No-one will be quite so quick to write them off now, and Bilić’s pre-match comments that “any team that beats Germany can hope to beat anybody” will find real resonance when the tournament contenders are next tallied up. But what do you think? Can the mobility and technique of Luka Modrić, Niko Kranjčar and Ivan Rakitić see them through to the end or will more dynamic teams than Germany expose Robert Kovač and Josip Šimunić’s lack of pace at the back?

Luka Modrić may not have been among the goals in Croatia’s 2-1 Group B victory against Germany, but his “outstanding contribution” in Klagenfurt was enough to earn the midfielder the Carlsberg Man of the Match award.

Mature game
While Darijo Srna and Ivica Olić got on the scoresheet for Croatia, before Lukas Podolski halved the deficit eleven minutes from time, the 22-year-old Modrić again impressed with his maturity and all-round play. After receiving the award, he said: “It means a lot to me. I am very happy with it but the most important thing is that we won and played very well. We were motivated and wanted to show everybody that we had a bad day against Austria. When our opponents are strong we play our best football and this is what we did against Germany. Expectations have been great and now I believe we have shown that we can rightly aspire to great things here.”

Record transfer
The No14 will leave NK Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland for Tottenham Hotspur FC after UEFA EURO 2008™ and the Londoners will not be regretting paying a club record-equalling €21m fee based on his showings in Austria so far. Modrić and company wasted little time in establishing control over Germany’s midfield and could have gone in at the break with more than a 1-0 lead. “We are not surprised by how many openings we created and we think we played an excellent match,” he added. “Our movement was good and when we do that, we are very dangerous and can create many chances against any side – not just Germany.”

‘Hard worker’
The Carlsberg Man of the Match award is decided by the UEFA Technical Team and one of its members, the former France, Liverpool FC and Olympique Lyonnais coach Gérard Houllier, said of Modrić: “Not only is he a very hard worker, he has a good brain and he provided some calmness and composure to the midfield. His passing was neat and his contribution was outstanding. He was not only winning the ball, he was passing well. We thought that he was very influential. He did not just work hard, he made the other people play well around him.”

Web chat
Modrić will be in the euro2008.com chatroom from 16.00CET on Friday so join us then to put your questions to the Croatia playmaker.