Ivan Rakitić the competition. On 15 October 2008, he scored a brace in a 4–0 win at home to Andorra. On 5 September 2009, he scored the match-winning goal in a 1–0 win at home to Belarus. Croatia failed to qualify for the finals after finishing third in their group. After appearing in all of their Euro 2012 qualifiers, he was selected to be part of the Croatian squad at the Euro finals in Poland and Ukraine. Croatia were drawn in Group C together with Spain, Italy and the Republic of Ireland. Rakitić started in all three of Croatia group stage matches.
Concerns and controversies related to UEFA Euro 2012 (which was not a host city). At least 29 people were injured in what was described as a terrorist attack. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that there would be an "adequate" response. Hryhoriy Surkis, then head of the Ukrainian Football Federation, said that he "[thought] the people who committed this brutal crime...are also accomplices to an attack on the image of our country ahead of the Euro-2012." UEFA responded to the incident by saying that it was confident of having a "smooth and festive tournament," however, if the political situation were to become more unstable, UEFA was reported have been