Croatia overcome dip to pip Norway

Yes, they needed a helping hand from Italy on the last matchday, but Croatia's excellent record of qualifying for final tournaments continues with UEFA EURO 2016.

Going into Tuesday's deciders, Croatia trailed Norway by two points in the race for Group H's second place. Croatia took the lead in Malta but Norway also scored first in Italy. Fortunately for Croatia, the Italians rallied in the second half to win 2-1 and Ante Čačić's side secured the 1-0 victory they required.

Under Niko Kovač, who had succeeded Igor Štimac, Croatia actually made a fine start to this campaign, beating Malta, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan before a 1-1 draw in Italy and 5-1 thrashing of Norway. But after a 1-1 home draw with Italy, Croatia had a point deducted, and they then drew in Azerbaijan and lost 2-0 in Norway last month.

With qualification in peril, Kovač was replaced as coach by Čačić. And six point in October against Bulgaria and Malta proved enough to take his new charges above Norway and into the finals.

Reaction
Ante Čačić, Croatia coach
It's a wonderful feeling. It will be Croatia's ninth major tournament from 11 qualifying campaigns. I have to congratulate my team, the former coach and everyone who supported Croatia.

We played a good qualifying campaign and apart from two bad results we fulfilled our expectations and won a place at EURO 2016. Now it is time to celebrate – there were hugs and singing after the match, we are all happy and proud. After Norway scored in Rome, I told my players at half-time that we had to concentrate on our match and that Italy would score twice in the second half.

Darijo Srna, Croatia captain
It has been a tough period of late, starting with the match against Azerbaijan. But today the Croatian players are heroes who did everything they could for their country. Tonight it's time to celebrate, we are proud that we will hear the Croatian anthem in France at EURO 2016. We have a number of excellent Croatian players and I am not afraid about our future.

Ivan Perišić, Croatia midfielder
Now we will have five to six months to take our game to the next level. Thanks to Italy for their win – I will thank my team-mates at Inter tomorrow. We are all delighted and happy. We gave our best.

Key stats
Final tournaments: 3 (most recent 2012)
Best result: quarter-finals 2008
Coach: Ante Čačić
Leading scorers: all-time – Davor Šuker (45); current – Darijo Srna (21)
Most appearances: all-time – Darijo Srna (126); current – Darijo Srna (126)

Record EURO appearances
Overall: Darijo Srna (43)
Final tournament: Darijo Srna (8)

Record EURO goals
Overall: Davor Šuker (20)
Final tournament: Mario Mandžukić (3)