New Tottenham signing Luka Modric, who will complete his �15.8m move from Dinamo Zagreb after the tournament, was instrumental in Croatia's victory.
Modric's promptings in midfield helped Croatia turn in a display which was a huge improvement on their patchy performance against Austria in their first match.
"We are overjoyed by this win, we started off playing tough, the way we wanted to," said Modric.
"We wanted to exert pressure on our opponents so as not to allow them to develop their own game.
"We also wanted to show that the criticism after the first match was uncalled for."
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Croatia stun Euro 2008 favourites Germany with a 2-1 victory to take control of Group B.
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