A deserved win for Croatia, who begin their campaign in style thanks to Luka Modric’s brilliant winner. It should have been even more comfortable but the number of chances they passed up didn’t come back to bite them in the end. Turkey were poor. They’ll need a big improvement when they face Spain and the Czech Republic - who meet tomorrow afternoon - if they’re to qualify from Group D. Thanks for reading and emailing. That’s all from me. Bye.
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Full-time: Turkey 0-1 Croatia!
It’s all over!
90 min+3: Croatia make their third change, Marco Pjaca on for Mario Mandzukic. Here’s a free-kick for Turkey. It’s launched high into the Croatia area and Hakan Balta almost forces his way through, only to be denied by a wonderful last-ditch challenge from the wounded Vedran Corluka, whose reward is a boot to the head. He’s really been in the wars today.
90 min+1: Volkan Sen is booked for fouling Darjo Srna.
90 min: There will be four more minutes of this.
89 min: Another Croatia change, Ivan Rakitic off, Gordon Schildenfeld on.
87 min: Croatia make their first substitution, Andrej Kramaric replacing the excellent Ivan Perisic.
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85 min: Caner’s cross is far too close to Subasic. Burak Yilmaz has had precious little service.
83 min: Rakitic prods a pass through to Perisic, but Volkan is out quickly to close the angle and the Turkey goalkeeper stands up high enough to save the midfielder’s attempted dink.
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81 min: From the right corner of the Croatia area, the left-footed Caner Ekin aims for the near post. Subasic reads his intentions, though.
80 min: Strinic is booked after fouling Volkan Sen on the edge of the area. That came after an exquisite backheel from Emre Mor.
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79 min: Volkan tips Brozovic’s looping header over the bar. Nothing comes from the resulting corner.
78 min: Here’s our story on Uefa’s response to the Russian and English fan violence.
76 min: The freshly bandaged Corluka has finally been allowed back on.
74 min: Corluka has received more treatment. He’s probably going to need some stitches in that wound.
72 min: From Mandzukic’s cross, Perisic hits the bar with a free header from six yards out! Croatia have missed so many chances.
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71 min: Hakan Calhanoglu, who’s not had the best game, bobbles a shot wide from 25 yards.
69 min: There are huge cheers from the Turkey fans as the woeful Cenk Tosun is replaced by Emre Mor, the 18-year-old who’s just signed for Borussia Dortmund.
67 min: Seemingly in trouble near their own area, Croatia expertly play their way out with some lovely, poised passing. Perisic, having a fine game down the left, reaches the byline and slides a ball across the six-yard box and Brozovic, slithering in, just fails to make contact with the cross. It only needed a touch. Think Gazza v Germany in 1996.
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65 min: Burak Yilmaz replaces the ineffective Arda Turan for Turkey.
64 min: Uefa has warned Russia and England that they could be disqualified if there is further fan violence.
61 min: Brozovic goes so close to adding a second goal for Croatia, whistling a volley over the angle of post and bar after good hold-up play from Mandzukic. Are Croatia going to regret this profligacy? They’ve been 1-0 up against Turkey before... “Please ask J R from Illinois not to disturb my US vocabulary acquired from Archie comics of the 1960s - it’s holy cow, right? “ says Charles Antaki. “Madrid’s shot is surely worthy of a Hindu sacred animal. Not sure crows come into it.”
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59 min: Corluka is back, sporting a blue cap over his bandage.
58 min: The cut on Corluka’s head has opened up. He’ll need more treatment, so Croatia are down to 10 men again.
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56 min: Modric has run this game. What a player.
54 min: Perisic drives down the left, beats his man easily and fizzes a low ball into the six-yard box. The plunging Volkan can only parry it out to Srna, who slashes a wild shot wide of the goal with his weaker left foot.
52 min: Darjo Srna lines up the free-kick, adjusting his sights, trying to spot a gap to aim for. He clips it over the wall with his right foot and Volkan can only look helplessly to his left as the ball flies past him. Imagine his relief when the ball hits the bar and goes over for a goal-kick. Croatia are very unlucky not to lead by two goals.
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51 min: Ivan Rakitic embarks on a wonderful wriggling solo run through the middle, beating several Turkish players thanks to some neat skill, but he’s clipped from behind by Ozan Tufan as he prepares to shoot on the edge of the area. Croatia have a free-kick in a very promising position.
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50 min: Rakitic whips a free-kick into the middle from the right. Mandzukic’s tame header dribbles through to Volkan.
48 min: Turkey have made a strong start to the second half. Calhanoglu breaks down the right and pulls a cross back to the edge of the area, where Sen is waiting. He shapes for a volley but it’s blocked by Corluka. Moments later, Hakan Balta is booked for leaving one on Mandzukic.
46 min: Off we go again, Croatia getting the second half underway. Turkey have made a positive change, bringing on the speedy Volkan Sen for Oguzhan Ozyakup.
Half-time: Turkey 0-1 Croatia
A gripping first half comes to an end. Luka Modric’s brilliance has made the difference so far.
45 min+1: There will be two minutes of stoppage time. Turkey have a corner on the right. It’s whipped towards the near post and Hakan Balta heads into the side netting. There’s a brief cheer from the Turkish fans but it dies as quickly as it started. “After Payet’s incredible shot I was fairly certain we had seen the goal of the tournament in the first game,” says JR in Illinois. “I’m just not so certain any longer. Holy crow. That was outrageous.”
44 min: We’ve already seen some stunning goals in this tournament. Payet, Bale, Dier, Robson-Kanu, and now Modric. It’s not been bad.
GOAL! Turkey 0-1 Croatia (Modric, 41 min)
A bolt from the men in blue. It seemed that Turkey had done enough after clearing the corner, then dealing with a subsequent cross. But a looping clearance is met on the full by Modric, who sends a dipping first-time volley through the crowd with his right foot from 25 yards and the seemingly unsighted Volkan, diving down low to his right, can’t reach it in time. He might have been sharper but take nothing away from the technique, audacity and skill from Modric, who missed his penalty in that 2008 shootout against these opponents.
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41 min: Croatia win their umpteenth corner, Srna’s cross deflected behind. Nothing comes from it. Get Harry Kane on.
38 min: Down on the right, the corner flag is swaying dizzily after colliding with the sliding Arda Turan. It’s looking pretty unsteady, the poor thing, it felt the the full force of Arda there. But play continues and Croatia have a corner. After a spot of scrambling in the Turkey area, the ball lands at the feet of Mandzukic. He spins and shoots straight at Volkan.
36 min: Calhanoglu tries to score with a free-kick from 40 yards. Plop! Splash! That’s the sound of the ball dropping into the Seine.
34 min: Mandzukic is briefly down after being caught by an elbow from Calhanoglu. It looked accidental again but this match is beginning to get a bit too feisty for the referee’s liking. Someone’s going to do something stupid soon.
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33 min: Corluka is in the process of being mummified, sufficiently enough for him to enter the pitch again.
31 min: Cenk Tosun picks up the game’s first booking after catching Vedran Corluka with a stray elbow. It was accidental but blood is pouring from the fuming Corluka’s head. Croatia are down to 10 men for the time being.
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29 min: Turkey finally creep out from behind their guard and attack down the right. Their marauding right-back, Gokhan Gonul, swings a beautiful ball into the area and it finds the Croatia defence in a mess. The centre-backs are split and no one’s noticed the unmarked Ozan, who only needs to put his header either side of Subasic in order to give Turkey the lead. Instead he glances it straight at the Croatia goalkeeper from six yards out. What a chance! But what a miss! Turkey should be ahead.
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28 min: With the Croatian pressure increasing, Srna hangs a cross into the area. Volkan bravely punches it away, but only as far as Badelj on the edge of the area, and the Turkey goalkeeper is very grateful to see the Croatian midfielder volley straight at him.
26 min: Croatia are playing the better football. They just need to come up with a killer final ball. They’ve not been ruthless enough yet.
23 min: Croatia are threatening. Brozovic pops up in between the lines, the Turkish midfield nowhere to be seen. He shifts it out to Srna on the right and bursts into the area, only to mistime his header again. Unmarked, he can’t time his jump well enough and the ball glances harmlessly off to the left. But these are promising moments for Croatia.
22 min: Perisic darts down the left, finding a rare pocket of space, but his teasing cross is headed over by Brozovic at the far post.
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19 min: Turkey win their first corner, Badelj heading a free-kick behind on the right. Calhanoglu’s cross is headed away at the near post, though. His deliveries have been disappointing so far.
17 min: A chance for Mandzukic. A cross from the right from Brozovic finds him unmarked in the middle but his weak downward header hits a Turkish leg and the ball’s eventually booted away. The Croatian striker might have done better there. He was completely unchallenged and he wasn’t that far from goal.
16 min: Why isn’t Mandzukic taking Croatia’s corners?
15 min: A lull.
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13 min: Turkey are beginning to feel their way into this match now, a neat move ending with Ozan drilling a shot well wide from long range.
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10 min: There have been a lot of free-kicks. You have to assume the pace will settle down at some point. It’s very stop-start at the moment.
9 min: A free-kick to Turkey on the right. But their set-piece specialist, Hakan Çalhanoglu aims it too close to Subasic. A waste.
7 min: Turkey have barely had a kick yet. Other than Ozan Tufan aiming one at Modric, of course.
5 min: A corner to Croatia on the right. It’s fizzed in menacingly but no one can get a head to the ball and it reaches Strinic on the left. His low cross is hacked away. Turkey look nervous here.
3 min: Modric is sent flying by Ozan Tufan just inside his own half. He stays down for a few moments, while players from both teams rage at the Swedish referee. Modric soon gets back to his feet.
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2 min: This is a strong start from Croatia. Modric finds Srna on the right and the captain’s cross towards the near post is hooked on by the stretching Rakitic, whose improvised volley drifts not too far wide of the far post.
And we’re off! Turkey, in red shirts and black shorts, get the ball rolling in wet conditions in Paris. They’re kicking from left to right in the first half. Croatia are in their blue away kit.
Here come the teams! The noise is deafening. This could be a superb match. But first, it’s time for the anthems.
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A brilliant atmosphere is developing at the Parc des Princes. You never expect anything other than boisterousness from the Croatians and the Turks. But let’s hope it doesn’t spill over into any nonsense after the nastiness of the past few days in Marseille.
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Slaven Bilic is magnificent on ITV, isn’t he? That is all.
Croatia, of course, enjoyed themselves the last time a tournament was held in France, finishing third at the 1998 World Cup.
The teams!
Turkey: Volkan; Gokhan Gonul, Mehmet Topal, Balta, Caner; Oguzhan, Ozan Tufan; Selcuk, Hakan Çalhanoglu, Arda Turan; Cenk.
Croatia: Subasic; Srna, Corluka, Vida, Strinic; Badelj, Modric, Brozovic, Rakitic, Perisic; Mandzukic.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden).
Darjo Srna, Croatia’s captain, played in that game in 2008. Here’s what he’s had to say about it.
I do not want to think about that too much. “It was painful memory for all of our supporters and all of our players. It was a difficult match and a painful defeat. Turkish teams have shown that you have to play until the very last second, and that shows that their mentality is very strong. They are big fighters, and we have to take care of this.
Preamble
Hello. It’s fair to assume that Croatia won’t be getting too carried away if they score the first goal this afternoon, even if Mario Mandzukic knocks one in off his backside in the 97th minute, and not just because it’s the opening group game and that would be weird. They know all too well that a game can change in the blink of an eye. They still carry the scars. How could it be any other way?
This is a fixture that immediately conjures memories of one of the most spectacular and dramatic finishes in European Championship history and the lesson Croatia have hopefully absorbed from that slow-burn evening back on 20 June 2008, when all their hopes and dreams came crashing down around them in gutwrenching style, is that it’s never wise to think that it’s over, even when it seems like it’s over and there’s no way back for your opponents. They had been one of the best sides at Euro 2008, beating Germany and finishing with a 100% record as they won their group, and it looked like they had secured their place in the last four when Ivan Klasnic put them 1-0 up in the 119th minute of their quarter-final against Turkey.
Slaven Bilic, their manager at the time, had his Jose Mourinho moment, charging down the touchline to leap into the bundle of players down by the corner flag, and the match looked won. But Turkey had already demonstrated their powers of recovery during the group stage, twice fighting back from troublesome positions to beat Czech Republic and Switzerland, and they refused to lie down. Croatia’s celebrations meant that there was just enough time for Turkey to launch one last attack - and when the ball fell to Semih Senturk in the area, the substitute cracked his shot high past the stunned Stipe Pletikosa. It was a winner in all but name. Senturk’s goal made it 1-1 but, really, there was no point holding the penalty shoot-out.
The outcome was obvious, Turkey tucking all three of their penalties away, the deflated Croatians inevitably missing three of their four. Turkey would go on to lose a crazy semi-final to Germany, a team that Croatia had already beaten. They might have made it to the final if they had held their nerve.
But you never know, Croatia might experience redemption this time. This is a side that can safely be placed in the dark horse category - there aren’t many better central midfielders around than Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, after all - and they could go far if Ante Cacic gets his tactics right. That’s not a sure thing, though. As Alex Holiga explains here, there are doubts about the Croatia manager’s approach.
How Croatia fare today will be instructive. Fatih Terim is still Turkey’s manager and they boast plenty of their own talent, particularly in Bayern Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu. Group D begins here and while this game is unlikely to come close to matching events in Vienna in 2008, it could be the best of the tournament to date.
Kick-off: 2pm British “Summer” Time.
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