Croatia

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Croatia exit shatters Bilic

21 Jun 2008 - 10:47:44

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Croatia coach Slaven Bilic admitted to being haunted by his side's dramatic quarter-final exit from Euro 2008, following a penalty shootout loss to Turkey.

Bilic's men looked to be heading to the semi-finals when Ivan Klasnic scored with just two minutes of extra-time to play, but Semih Senturk levelled in time added-on to set up the shoot-out.

Then Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic missed from the spot, before Rustu Recber saved from Mladen Petric to seal a 3-1 victory for the Turks.

An emotional Bilic said afterwards: "The last two minutes I cannot describe. This will probably haunt me for the rest of my life.

"I am proud of my players, but at the same time we are sorry and unhappy because we thought we could go all the way.

"I congratulate the Turkish team but I still don't believe we deserved to lose. This match had an incredible ending, the kind of ending you only find in football.

"In the 120 minutes we had more chances than the Turks, of course they exerted pressure on us for a while, but we have beaten better sides so far in the tournament."

Of the concession of a last-gasp leveller, Bilic added: "It was a shock for us of course, it seemed as if it were over, then we conceded a goal.

"That was certainly a physiological advantage for the Turks. Of course I can't tell what was on the players' minds, but I'm sure the players weren't focused on the penalties.

"Mentally they must still have been in extra-time, seeing that Turkish goal again."