Croatia were made to work hard for their narrow victory as Austria, cheered on by a partisan home crowd at the Ernst Happel Stadion, recovered from a poor opening half-hour to push Slaven Bilic's men all the way to the final whistle.

Some Austrians petitioned for their side to withdraw from the tournament for fear of being embarrassed and when Croatia went ahead from the earliest penalty ever conceded in the European Championships, it seemed that they may have had a point.

The co-hosts' defender Rene Aufhauser bundled over Ivica Olic near the by-line in the third minute and Dutch referee Pieter Vink immediately pointed to the spot. Middlesbrough defender Emanuael Pogatetz was booked for his protests but Modric kept his cool, stepping up to send keeper Jurgen Macho the wrong way.

Modric nearly turned provider with fifteen minutes gone when his dangerous set-piece delivery was narrowly missed at the near post by Olic, who with half-an-hour gone, made a complete fool of Pogatetz, nutmegging the Boro defender with a cheeky back-heel by the corner flag. Pogatetz pulled back the CSKA Moscow forward and was extremely lucky to avoid a second yellow card.

Mladen Petric - the man whose goal at Wembley last year eliminated England - should have done much better when he was picked out in space at the far post by Vedran Corluka's cross but the Borussia Dortmund striker blasted a volley high and wide when he had the time and space to take a first touch.

Austria had their best spell of the first period as half-time approached. Martin Harnik's dangerous cross had to be cleared by Josip Simunic before Joachim Standfest put a free-header wide of the target following a deep delivery from the left.

Modric and Olic nearly combined again just before the hour mark when the Spurs man took advantage of some slack defending but his drilled cross was scrambled clear by Martin Stranzl with Olic waiting to pounce.

Austria again grew as the half progressed but aside from a header from the edge of the box by substitute Ivica Vastic on 79 minutes and a long-range drive from Unit Korkmaz five minutes from the end, Stipe Pletikosa in the Croatia goal was relatively untroubled.

Roman Kienast headed narrowly wide from a free-kick in the final minute of added time, but Croatia held on to claim the spoils and set the early pace in Group B.