Turkey vs Croatia: opening game promises to be a tight affair
Published:Croatia boss Slaven Bilic has said his side are not motivated by revenge ahead of their Euro 2012 play-off against Turkey – but it could give them a vital edge in what promises to be a tight couple of games.
Turkey beat Croatia on penalties in the quarter finals of Euro 2008 before going on to lose 3-2 to Germany in their semi final and this is the first meeting between the sides since.
With Turkey having the home advantage in the first leg though, they are once again favourites for this clash…
Match odds
Turkey head into this game as narrow favourites at 11/8 having lost just one of their previous 14 games on home soil.
Croatia have only lost three away games since 2007 though and, having just missed out on automatic qualification by two points, they can be backed at 21/10 to win this encounter.
However, the previous meetings between these sides have all been incredibly close.
Their Euro 2008 encounter needed penalties to separate them, while their two meetings prior to that both finished in a draw.
Another draw this Friday can be backed at a very decent 11/5.
Goal markets
Including friendlies, Croatia have only scored in one of their previous five away games, while Turkey have hit just one goal in their last three clashes.
With so much on the line and only one of the previous four encounters between these nations yielding more than two goals, backing under 2.5 goals looks worth considering at 4/7.
