Classy Croatia stun Germany

KLAGENFURT (Austria) (AFP) - Croatia bristled with imagination and inspiration as they dealt Germany a 2-1 Euro 2008 Group B defeat here on Thursday in one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far.

The Croats were well worth their victory - which came 10 years after the biggest result in their history when they beat the same opponents 3-0 in the World Cup quarter-finals - as they took charge of the group and are now almost guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals.

Coach Slaven Bilic, who played in the 3-0 win in Lyon in 1998, said the Germans should not be written off.

"I want to especially congratulate my players, not only for the fight they showed but for playing an excellent match," he said.

"There is no other way to beat the Germans than to play well. They're still a great team, though, and still one of the favourites for the title."

It will be back to the drawing board for the Germans, who ended the match with 10 men, and coach Joachim Loew admitted they had been second best.

"It's clear looking back on the match that we deserved to lose because as a team we were unable to be precise enough and fast enough to really cause Croatia problems," he said.