Croatia vs Turkey preview: 'They are big fighters, and we have to take care of this,' says Croat captain Dario Srna

Croatia are out to redeem themselves after heartbreak against Turkey eight years ago

Dario Srna has earned 130 caps for Croatia (Getty)

It was one of the best games in modern European Championship history, but on Saturday afternoon at the Parc des Princes Dario Srna did not especially want to talk about it.

Srna and three of his likely team-mates in Paris on Saturday were there eight years ago, when Croatia faced Turkey in Vienna, in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. Slaven Bilic’s young team had stormed through the group stages, beating Joachim Low’s Germany, and winning Group B. That meant that Bilic could rotate for Croatia’s third game, against Poland, but they won that too.

Croatia arrived at the Ernst-Happel Stadion the popular favourites to win. They faced a competitive Turkey side who dug in and took the game to extra-time. There were just seconds left on the clock when Ivan Klasnic scored what looked like the winning goal, sending Croatia through to the semi-finals.

But two minutes into added time Turkey equalised through Semih Senturk. Croatia were shattered, having come that close to progressing. Srna scored his penalty but Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mladen Petric all missed theirs, and Croatia were out.

Srna, Modric and Rakitic, along with Vedran Corluka, will all be there on Saturday, eight years older and wiser, and they will surely want to make amends. Srna, though, did not quite want to think in those terms.

“I do not want to think about that too much,” the Croatian captain said. “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.”

Turkey went on to lose to Germany in the semi-finals in Basel, a match that Croatia would have fancied themselves in having beaten them in the group. After group-stage exits at Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup, that hectic night in Austria must go down as one of the great missed opportunities of modern Croatian football.

Bilic’s own theory about losing the game is down to the fact that he had rested his best players for the Poland match. That means that they had lost their rhythm, compared to Turkey players who had to be at their best for all three group games. He pointed to Holland losing to Russia and Portugal losing to Germany as examples of the same phenomenon.

But eight years on Croatia are looking more dangerous than they have at any point since then. In 2008 Modric was a 22-year-old at Dinamo Zagreb, Rakitic a 20-year-old at Schalke, but now they play for Real Madrid and Barcelona and are at the absolute peaks of the powers. Srna is still going strong for Shakhtar Donetsk and they have more experience up front with Mario Mandzukic, a fierce competitor and reliable goalscorer at the top level.

Beyond those players there is a new generation of young talent, players who were not there at Euro 2008. In midfield there is Mateo Kovacic of Real Madrid and Marcelo Brozovic of Internazionale. Ante Coric, Dinamo Zagreb’s 19-year-old, is their next great prospect.

That is why there is so much confidence in the Croatian camp now, confidence that the players can go further than they did eight years ago, starting with revenge against the team that beat them.

“There is excitement and euphoria,” said Srna, “we have one of the best teams in Croatian football.”

“We have experienced players, who have been to tournaments before, and we have new players, quality young players,” said coach Ante Cacic. “We just have to connect all these individual qualities. The team has to be at the top level, if so we can expect a positive result.”