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.
UEFA Euro 2012 Group C tournament. In their final match, the Republic of Ireland wore black armbands to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Loughinisland massacre. This was criticised by some unionists and members of the UVF. However, the victims' families fully supported the gesture. In the quarter-finals, <section begin=c1 /><section end=c1 /> <section begin=c2 /><section end=c2 /> <section begin=c3 /><section end=c3 /> <section begin=c4 /><section end=c4 /> <section begin=c5 /><section end=c5 /> <section begin=c6 /><section end=c6 /> UEFA Euro 2012 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2012 began on 10 June 2012 and ended on 18 June 2012. The pool consisted of Spain,