Preview: Turkey v Croatia

• Turkey and Croatia resume their rivalry as Group D begins
• Croatia beat Turkey 1-0 during the group stage at EURO '96
• Turkey downed Croatia on penalties in the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals
• Croatia earned revenge with a 3-0 success in the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs
• The nations have been drawn together in 2018 World Cup qualifying

Possible line-ups
Turkey: Volkan Babacan; Gökhan Gönül, Mehmet Topal, Hakan Balta, Caner Erkin; Ozan Tufan, Selçuk İnan; Volkan Şen, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Arda Turan; Burak Yılmaz.
Out: none
Doubtful: none

Croatia: Subašić; Srna, Ćorluka, Vida, Strinić; Badelj, Modrić, Rakitić; Brozović, Perišić; Mandžukić.
Out: none
Doubtful: none

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Fatih Terim, Turkey coach
It's important for us to get out of this group. If we can do that, we'll send out a strong message that we can go places. Croatia are an important team with important players and we respect them a lot.

[18-year-old] Emre Mor is an extraordinary player. I called him up to the national team and I think I made the right call. I believe he will grow into a world-class player after learning how to play football in the right way.

We would like Arda Turan to play more for his club [Barcelona], but he was a regular [for Turkey] even when he did not play at all [until January]. Whether or not he plays regularly for his club, Arda is our most important player.

Ante Čačić, Croatia coach
Our team are ready, we have a big appetite and the atmosphere in the squad is perfect. It's always like this in the Croatia team. We have quality players, a good team spirit and some players with experience of two EUROs and a World Cup. We have some new quality young players, which means we have a good mixture.

There's no side in our group that's not expecting to get through the group stage, but the first game against Turkey is really important for both us and them. We need to start by retaining possession, press them and push for three points. With all due respect to Turkey, we're ready to get a good result and I think we can achieve it. We've analysed this Turkey team and we have some good information and plans. I've given lots of instructions to my players on areas we can exploit.

UEFA.com team reporters
Cetin Cem Yilmaz, Turkey (@UEFAcomCetinCY)
This game is more than just a UEFA EURO 2008 rematch, as it could turn out to be the decisive fixture for both Turkey and Croatia. For Turkey, the main challenge will be trying to stop the skilful Croatian midfielders' passing channels to Mario Mandžukić. Selçuk İnan and Ozan Tufan will bear the brunt of that task, and Turkey will hope the centre-back pairing of Mehmet Topal and Hakan Balta clicks just in time.

Elvir Islamović, Croatia (@UEFAcomElvirI)
Croatia haven't had such a collection of quality individual players for a long time, but now they need to show they can play at a high level as a team. Expectations are high, the atmosphere in the squad is excellent and all the players have said they can't wait for their first outing. The good news for the coach is that all the players are fit and their confidence is hitting the roof, especially after the record 10-0 victory over San Marino in Croatia's last warm-up match in Rijeka.

Form guide (all competitions, most recent first)
Turkey: WWLWWDWWWW
Croatia: WWDWWWWLDD

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Did you know?
Croatia and Turkey made their UEFA European Championship finals debuts at EURO '96 and were paired in the opening round of fixtures. Croatia won the game in Nottingham 1-0 with a late breakaway goal from Goran Vlaović. Then, as now, Fatih Terim was Turkey's coach. Find out more in our extensive match background.

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