An early penalty from new Tottenham signing Luka Modric was enough to earn Croatia 1-0 win over gutsy Austria in their Euro 2008 Group B opener.

When Rene Aufhauser committed a foul by interrupting Ivica Olic as early as the third minute, one thought that the Croatian show had just begun. Modric sent his shot bang into the centre of the net as Macho dived to his right. And a few minutes later, Mladen Petric was in acres of space, but failed to direct his shot correctly. At that moment an Austrian fan could have been forgiven for thinking that the match was out of their reach. But Josef Hickersberger side displayed great spirit and passion in the second half, and gave it all they had. Unfortunately, guts and passion are very often not enough- you need quality to back it up, and Austria lacked that cutting edge in front of goal. And while the exhausted Croatians were relieved when the referee blew the final whistle, the Austrians were distraught. However, they would have definitely gained a few fans across the world with their performance.

Emanuel Pogatetz was lucky to stay on the pitch in the first half, as he seemed to want to become the first person to get sent off at these Championships. Saumel and Proedl had a couple of efforts from long range, but nothing troubled Pletikosa too much. In the first half, the Croatians were the better side, although Austria showed signs of coming into their own towards the end of it.

Young Werder Bremen forward Martin Harnik showed signs of brilliance on the right hand side, with Pogatetz often choosing to switch flanks with one sweeping cross. Roland Standfest combined well with Harnik,and his header was Austria's best chance in the first half. Andreas Ivanschitz and Korkmaz tried their best, and substitutes Ivica Vastic and Roman Kienast came mighty close to equalising- the latter in the dying seconds of the game with a header, but Croatia survived all what was thrown at them.

Austria starting XI:- Macho, Standfest, Stranzl, Pogatetz,  Aufhauser, Linz (Kienast 73), Ivanschitz,  Gercaliu ( Korkmaz),  Proedl, Saumel (Vastic), Harnik.

Croatia starting XI:  Pletikosa, Corluka, Pranjic, Simunic, R. Kovac,  N. Kovac,  Srna,  Modric,  Olic (Ognjen Vukojevic),  Kranjcar (Knezevic), Petric ( Budan).