Sunday 12 June 2016 18:41, UK
Croatia's star man Luka Modric admitted he was so thrilled by his match-winning volley against Turkey that he did not realise a supporter had gate-crashed his celebrations.
Ante Cacic's side dominated throughout, but it was only Modric's stunning strike four minutes before the break - his 11th international goal - that separated the teams at the final whistle.
The Real Madrid playmaker illuminated the game with his deft flicks and surefooted touches, and with half-time approaching he provided the breakthrough at Parc des Princes with a sweetly struck 41st-minute dipping volley from outside the box that flashed past Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Babacan.
He celebrated with a knee-slide towards the corner flag and was quickly swamped by team-mates, as well as a fan sporting a Croatia replica top and red and white painted head, who was led away by stewards.
Asked if the incident had scared him, Modric told reporters: "It could have been a supporter from Turkey, but thank God it was our supporter! After scoring this kind of goal, I didn't even notice.
"It was only afterwards I noticed that there was someone who wasn't my team-mate. What happened happened. He wasn't dangerous. If he went onto the pitch, it was with a positive attitude."
Croatia have never lost a match in which Modric has scored and the 30-year-old, who was voted man of the match, was hailed by coach Cacic.
"Luka really deserves to be talked about, especially after this match," he said. "It was one of his best matches in Croatia's history. He was really playing well. He was really our leader.
"He scored a magical goal and at the end it was the only goal. We need Luka in this form. All the team looks better and more aggressive when he plays like that."
While Fatih Terim's Turkey now have it all to do ahead of their meeting with defending champions Spain in Nice on Friday, Croatia will go into their game against the Czech Republic with one eye on the last 16, although Modric says it would be dangerous to look too far ahead.
"This was only the first step," said the former Tottenham schemer. "It was a very important step, a big step. As we said before this match, it's very important to win the first game. We achieved this goal.
"We have two very important matches in front us. The first one is against the Czech Republic, who are tough and unpredictable.
"So we have to go step by step, not get carried away with euphoria and think we're already through.
"We have to be confident on the basis of our performance today, go on and play even better. But I'm definitely not sure we've already passed the group stages."
Don't forget to follow our minute-by-minute commentary of Croatia's next game against the Czech Republic on Friday through our live blog on skysports.com/football, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportsfootball.
