Former Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva has been included in the Croatia squad that will take part in the Euro 2012 by manager Slaven Bilic.

The former West Ham and Everton defender also announced the while naming the squad that it would be his final tournament in charge of Croatia. He has been a revelation since taking over Croatia more than six years ago and he guided them to the Euro 2008 at the expense of England. Blessed with a number of high profile players like Eduardo da Silva and Luka Modric, Croatia have performed extremely well at the major tournaments in recent seasons.

However, the former West Ham defender has announced that he wants to go into club management after the Euro 2012. The Euro 2012 will be taking place in Poland and Ukraine this summer. Croatia are in a group containing former world champions in the form of Spain and Italy.

Hence, they are certainly not the favourites to get out of the group stages, but that has not prevented Slaven Bilic from having his utmost belief in the squad. He has demonstrated that contains a lot of experience and technical abilities. There is every chance that Croatia could turn out to be the dark horses of the tournament.

“This will be my last championship in charge. I’ve given my best and I thank you all, but the hardest job is still ahead of me. I wish my successor all the happiness in the world and hope to leave him some continuity,” said Slaven Bilic after announcing the 23 man squad for the Euro 2012. Former Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva, who is currently at Shakhtar Donetsk, has been included in the squad alongside the likes of Luka Modric. Croatia’s first match will be against Republic of Ireland.

Despite finishing bottom of the group, Shakhtar Donetsk managed to beat APOEL in their final group game, thus ensuring that the Champions League new boys APOEL do not finish top of the group.

APOEL had a real chance of finishing top of the group, which would have been extremely surprising given that they had entered into the Champions League only a few seasons ago. However, Shakhtar Donetsk proved that they do have a lot of quality within their squad – despite not qualifying for the next stages of the Champions League.

Shakhtar Donetsk were extremely brilliant in the match and played a brand of champagne football, which we have not seen from the Ukrainians so far in the competition. However, it comes a little bit too late given that they have already went out of the Champions League. They finish bottom of the group just below FC Porto, but this victory would have given them enough confidence to dominate their domestic campaign. Despite being the home team, APOEL rarely saw the ball and would have been extremely disappointed with the way they were unable to finish top of the group. This would have ensured that they would be avoiding the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, but as it is, they would be happy just to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Luis Adriano scored the goal for Shakhtar Donetsk in the 62nd minute and they soon doubled their lead through the substitute Yevgen Seleznov. Former Arsenal striker Eduardo came on as a substitute, but was unable to get into the party by scoring. Yevgen Seleznov’s goal late on in the match looked to have sealed the things for Shakhtar Donetsk, and it indeed was true, as APOEL failed to create any clear-cut chances following the goal.