Croatia winger Ivan Rakitić lit up as he recalled the moment Ivan Klasnić struck to consign Poland to a 1-0 defeat on Monday. It was the goal that ended Polish dreams of progress and maintained Croatia's 100 per cent record in UEFA EURO 2008™ Group B, but it was also immeasurably more than that.
"That was not only very important for him, it was important for the whole country," said Rakitić, a relative newcomer on the international stage with just ten caps but as keenly aware as any of his colleagues of the long and arduous journey Klasnić has been on. In fact, all of Croatia was surely willing the 28-year-old to score when he collected Danijel Pranjić's cut-back after 53 minutes of his first major tournament appearance since undergoing two kidney transplants. "You could see how the crowd reacted to him," added Rakitić, who described the Werder Bremen striker's hooked drive as his favourite goal of the tournament so far. "It was the best of days for him."
source: http://www.euro2008.uefa.com