Croatia coach Niko Kovac has apologised for the ugly scenes in the crowd that marred his side's 1-1 draw with Italy in Milan on Sunday. The 2016 European qualifier at the San Siro was temporarily stopped in both halves by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers after visiting fans threw fireworks and smoke bombs onto the pitch. Kuipers marched the players down the tunnel with the score at 1-1 as the smoke continued to grow and riot police attempted to restrain the Croatian supporters. Croatia fans stand in the smoke billowing from the flares and fireworks set off in the stands at the San Siro
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Croatia coach Niko Kovac says sorry for ugly scenes during Group H qualifying clash in Italy
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Players taken off after 75 minutes as away fans throw flares and fireworks on to San Siro pitch
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The match resumed 10 minutes later with the score at 1-1 after the flares were put out and removed
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Croatia midfielder Luka Modric labelled the scenes 'madness' and has slammed the behaviour of some fans
Croatian
'This is not the real image of Croatia, @placeholder are honest people that respect other nations, while this kind of behaviour leads nowhere.
Group H
The result left the two sides level on 10 points at the top of @placeholder after four games with both teams having gone into the encounter on the back of three straight wins in qualifying.
Italy
Italy
'We had @placeholder under control for almost 90 minutes,' Kovac added.
Italy
Italy
'@placeholder defended well, and we were aware that our chances will be rare.