Croatian national manager Slaven Bilic has praised midfielder Luka Modric for his performances during Euro 2008.<\/p>\n
This comes after Luka missed the opening penalty in a shootout with Turkey that his team eventually lost 3-1 on.<\/p>\n
The match had gone to penalties after ending 1-1 after extra time.<\/p>\n
Bilic said: “Luka played phenomenally and he certainly didn’t deserve to miss that penalty. Throughout this tournament he was the maestro.<\/p>\n
“As for Turkey this is the third match they’ve won in this extreme fashion. If they continued to be lucky and they don’t give up they might reach the final.<\/p>\n
“It’s obvious they don’t just have quality but something else too and that’s something you need in football.<\/p>\n
“But I want to congratulate both teams for a great game of football.<\/p>\n
“This match shows why it’s the most dramatic and most popular game in the world.<\/p>\n
“My players put in a heroic performance and I can have no complaints about any of them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"