Klasnic sends Poland out

Klasnic struck in the 52nd minute to earn a much-changed Croatia side a deserved victory and continues their impressive start to the tournament, which has also included triumphs over Austria and Germany and will next see them take on Turkey in the last eight.

For Poland the unlikely task of claiming a quarter-final spot proved mission impossible.

It was pretty much all Croatia after that in terms of goalscoring chances in the opening 45 minutes, with Slaven Bilic's new-look side getting in behind the Polish defence on a number of occasions.

The first time came in the 14th minute when Danijel Pranjic was played through by Klasnic, but the left-back's attempted chip over Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc drifted harmlessly across goal.

Bilic's side went much closer with their next opportunity, when Hrvoje Vejic's glancing header from an Ivan Rakitic free-kick bounced just past the far post with Boruc a helpless bystander.

Boruc was needed to save his side in the 31st minute though when Klasnic was played in on the edge of the area, and the Celtic goalkeeper did well to come out and block the Werder Bremen striker's shot.

Jerko Leko then sent a low 25-yard shot fizzing just wide of Boruc's right post, before the Polish number one did superbly to save from Klasnic on the stroke of half-time following another one-on-one with the Croatia hitman.

Croatia needed just seven minutes of the second half to take the lead and the goal involved two of the game's most impressive performers, with full-back Pranjic racing onto a loose ball on the edge of the Poland area before cutting a pass back to Klasnic, who slotted home first time low to Boruc's left.

Polish substitute Ebi Smolarek had two decent efforts for his side in the closing stages but neither were on target, before Tomasz Zahorski missed a gilt-edged chance in the 88th minute when, after going clean through, he was denied by the feet of Runje as Croatia held on for the win.