Modric steals the show as Croatia tops Turkey in feisty encounter

The match wasn't particularly pretty, but its decisive moment certainly was.

Luka Modric's beautiful volley in the 41st minute gave Croatia a 1-0 victory over Turkey in a scrappy, disjointed Group D contest on Sunday. The Real Madrid star highlighted his dominant performance with a stunning tally that dipped and bounced under the arm of goalkeeper Volkan Babacan.

In a match that featured plenty of full-blooded challenges - and a hefty amount of actual blood from the head of Vedran Corluka, who took an inadvertent elbow to the cranium and required multiple bandages - Croatia emerged as a worthy victor.

Flashes of excitement from second-half substitute Emre Mor, 18, weren't enough for Fatih Terim's side, which was simply unable to craft many legitimate openings over the 90 minutes.

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Croatia, one of the underrated teams many expect to make some serious noise at Euro 2016, struck the crossbar twice in the second half through captain Darijo Srna and an Ivan Perisic header. Despite those spurned opportunities, though, the Croats held on late for all three points.