Czech Republic salvages 2-2 draw with Croatia

Cacic’s team were winning 2-1 against Czech Republic in Saint-Etienne, when a series of flares were thrown onto the pitch from the end containing the Croatian fans.

Croatia were leading 2-1 when English referee Mark Clattenburg halted proceedings so the flares could be extinguished. The game was temporarily stopped as stewards and ground staff attempted to remove them from the field of play.

“These are not Croatian fans they are terrorists”, said the coach with Perisic adding: “Maybe it’s best that we don’t play at all than that these things keep happening”.

Turkey need captain Arda Turan to spring into action if they are to have a realistic chance of upsetting holders Spain in their Euro 2016 Group D match on Friday.

The strike duo of Graziano Pelle and Eder were rarely involved in the first half, with Florenzi looking the brightest player down the left flank. Unfortunately they are doing this.

The Czech Republic rarely looked like recovering after Perisic and Rakitic put Croatia 2-0 ahead but Milan Skoda’s 75th-minute header and Nedic’s stoppage-time penalty rescued a point.

Spain however, have lost just one of their 10 meetings with Turkey (W5 D4 L1) and have won their last three competitive games against the Crescent-Stars.

But after a disastrous 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands provoked a first-round exit from the 2014 World Cup, Spain breathed a sigh of relief with the 1-0 win against the Czech Republic in Toulouse on Monday.

“When there’s a big derby between Dinamo and Hajduk people don’t take their kids to the game because they know there’ll be fighting”. The Real Madrid man showed why Croatia are being considered the dark horses in the tournament and a win here will confirm their participation in the next round.

Croatia threatened early on through Perisic who wasted an opportunity, but he quickly made amends for his miss, pouncing on a Czech error and beating goalkeeper Petr Cech with a well-placed low drive into the far corner in the 37th minute.

The Czechs, who had pulled a goal back after falling 2-0 behind, grabbed a last-gasp equaliser and Cacic was in no doubt that the trouble had deprived his distracted team of victory.

With the game and qualification from Group D seemingly secured, Croatia opted to replace Modric who appeared to be struggling with an injury.

Croatia’s supporters disgraced themselves moments later and must share responsibility for disrupting their team’s momentum.

But after Milan Skoda replied with a towering header to cut the lead with 15 minutes to go, Croatian supporters took centre stage – and it all went wrong.