Croatia boost Euro 2016 qualification chances with victory over Bulgaria

Croatia have beaten Bulgaria 3-0 to maintain their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 automatically.

Ivan Perisic opened the scoring after just two minutes when he struck into the bottom-left corner after Luka Modric's through ball.

Aleksandar Tonev tested Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic 10 minutes later when his shot was directed towards the bottom-right corner.

Croatia pushed for a second, but Nikola Kalinic, Domagoj Vida and Modric were wasteful when chances fell their way.

Ivan Rakitic doubled Croatia's lead just before the break when Kalinic found him unmarked in the penalty area.

A Kalinic header was saved by Bozhidar Mitrev before a shot from the Fiorentina striker went wide.

It was Kalinic who added Croatia's third with nine minutes remaining, when he finished from close range after being played in by Perisic.

Duje Cop was shown a straight red card in the 89th minute but Croatia had little problem in confirming the three points.