Buffon curses Croatia's efficiency

Italy were left feeling short-changed after dominating much of their UEFA EURO 2012 Group C game against Croatia and taking a lead through Andrea Pirlo, only for Mario Mandžukić to punish their only real blunder of the match to plunder a share of the points at the Municipal Stadium Poznan.

Gianluigi Buffon, Italy goalkeeper
I think we played very well, trying everything to win the game. We feel we will qualify if we manage to win the last game against Ireland. Unfortunately we should have scored more goals when we created a few chances in the first half. It's a pity because we played really well in defence but they punished our only mistake of the game. However, I feel I can say that we are playing well – we just need to be more clinical and try to kill games when we have the chance.

Claudio Marchisio, Italy midfielder
It's a pity because we played very well in the first half when we should have scored more than once. We are disappointed now because we lost two points that we would have deserved. In the second half we did not play as well as in the first but I think we were in control until their goal came. I had a couple of chances in the first half, a shot which went just over and another when I should have done better. It's a pity because I think we deserved to win this game, while now we have to wait until the very last match to see if we qualify, hoping it will still be in our hands and not depending on other results. We will try everything to beat Ireland and see what happens.

Leonardo Bonucci, Italy defender
We knew Croatia were dangerous, especially when they put balls in the box from the two flanks, and unfortunately we conceded the equaliser from exactly one of those situations. There was a mistake in positioning by the whole defence and they punished us. It's never one single player to blame when you concede goals like that. In football one single event can decide the game and it happened. I think we were clearly the better side in the first half, but we slowed down a bit in the second and we paid for that.

Riccardo Montolivo, Italy midfielder
Another 1-1, but we have a bitter taste in our mouths this time around because we created enough chances to beat them, especially in the first half. I think we played a good first half, then Croatia improved in the second, but we were controlling the game without any particular problems until their goal. We knew they were a dangerous side and they confirmed it, punishing our only mistake of the game.