News Feature

Croatia manager congratulates players

14 October 2008

Croatia's football manger said he is proud of his players despite only winning a point in a draw against Ukraine at the weekend in the World Cup qualifiers.

Slaven Bilic said he thought Croatia was the better team and his players wanted to win the match more than the Ukrainian team.

Although it was suggested he should have made substitutions earlier in the game, Bilic said he would not have changed anything about the match except the result.

The manager said he wanted to congratulate his players and the Ukrainian team for a fair fight, adding he is proud of his team and he loves them.

"Nothing would have changed had I introduced Mandzukic or Petric earlier because we pressured the players all the time," he said.

Bilic added he thought the Ukrainian team were forced to alter their game plan because of the way the Croatia team were playing in defence.

The country's next match in the World Cup qualifiers is at home in Zagreb against Andorra on October 15th. ADNFCR-1197-ID-18826185-ADNFCR