Grateful Srna set to play on for Croatia

Croatia captain Darijo Srna has expressed his appreciation for the well wishes he received following the death of his father on Sunday – and says he is "ready" to continue at UEFA EURO 2016, starting against the Czech Republic on Friday.

The right-back was informed of the news after Ante Čačić's side's 1-0 victory over Turkey in their Group D opener. Srna, 34, is now back with the squad after returning home for the funeral on Monday. The Shakhtar Donetsk defender's desire is to honour his father by taking to the field in Saint-Etienne.

"It was a very difficult moment for me and my family," said Croatia's most-capped international with 131 appearances. "From my heart I want to thank all the people who were with me and my family, especially my team-mates, who were giving me support from day to day, from hour to hour. It was important to me.

"I want to thank the Croatian Football Federation, who also helped me, and the fans too, as I received numerous messages and texts. I'm fine now and ready. Everyone knows what my father's last wish was – it was that I should return to play for the national team. Everything he had in life he invested in me and my career; I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."

Croatia defeated Turkey in Paris thanks to Luka Modrić's first-half volley, while Srna, Ivan Perišić and Marcelo Brozović were denied by the crossbar. A similar display at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard and Croatia could be celebrating a place in the last 16 with a match to spare. 

"This is the second step of three," said Srna. "The first one went very well, the second one is tomorrow and we will do everything to make sure we get to the next round. This team has a lot of quality on paper, we showed that in the previous game. If we adopt the same approach as against Turkey, if our focus is on the same level, we can hope to achieve a good result."