Croatia booked their ticket to the Euro 2012 finals with a 0-0 home draw ensuring a 3-0 aggregate victory after the second leg of their play-off against Turkey here on Tuesday.
It was sweet revenge for Croatia who were knocked out of Euro 2008 at the quarter-finals stage on penalties by their play-off rivals.
Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka did the damage to give the Croats a priceless win away from home in Istanbul on Friday and ensure Slaven Bilic's side had the upper hand going into the return leg in Zagreb.
And despite lacking the heroics of their first leg outing Bilic's men held on to maintain Croatia's unbeaten record on home soil going back to 2008.
"The Turks were playing for all or nothing but we showed character," said Croatia captain Darijo Srna.
"After the first match there was an euphoria in Croatia, but we decided to play as we did in Istanbul."
Turkey pushed hard early as they tried to keep alive their slim hopes of reaching the finals co-hosted by Poland and the Ukraine next year with Colin Kazim Richards missing a chance to give the visitors the lead after eight minutes.
Minutes later an effort from Galatasary midfielder Selcuk Inan bounced off the post as Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa dived to save.
Eintracht Frankfurt's centre back Gordon Schildenfeld missed a chance to increase Croatia's aggregate lead after 19 minutes when his header went wide.
Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric missed a shot on 27 minutes, and four minutes later it was the turn of Sevilla's Ivan Ratikic, with Mandzukic attempting to break the deadlock from ten metres out when Modric was better placed to score.
Croatia dominated the second half closing down all Turkish efforts to break through.
Bayern Munich midfielder Danijel Pranjic had looked threatening with a mazy run into the visitors' penalty box with 20 minutes to go but Bayer Leverkusen defender Omer Toprak blocked his path to the goal mouth.
Croatia's Rakitic, Dinamo Zagreb veteran Josip Simunic and Srna all had shots on goal in the dying minutes of the game, but the crowd still cheered as the fans were celebrating their third consecutive European finals.
"Three goals is not a realistic difference between Turkey and us. That was proven in the second match," said Bilic.
"During the first 15 minutes we were a bit stiff, we didn't shut down their midfielders fast enough but as the game progressed we took over and controlled."
Modric added: "It's a fantastic feeling. We qualified where we belong. My only regret is that we didn't win for our excellent fans."
Croatia entered the play-offs after being edged out by Euro 2004 champions Greece in their qualifying group, while Turkey came in way behind runaway leaders Germany in their group.
Source: AFP
