A wave of euphoria hit Croatia after the national team defeated England 2-1 in the World Cup semi-final and, befitting the historic achievement, it was a wave of epic proportions.

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The national broadcaster, HRT, started its post-match programme with presenters and studio guests jumping around and chanting, while Robert Prosinecki, a member of Croatia’s bronze-winning side in 1998, said: “We murdered the English in the second half!” Josko Jelicic, Croatia’s self-styled answer to Gary Lineker, added: “They [England] have nothing to cry about – they were knocked out by the future world champions. We played a mature game, the English were unbelievably inferior.”

The Vecernji list newspaper went with the headline “We knocked the English down, Croatia are in the World Cup final!” with Zeljko Jankovic writing how Croatia and France will now decide “who plays the best football on the planet at the moment”. It turned out to be rhetorical as he answered it himself by adding: “It’s Croatia, don’t even doubt that!”

Vecernji’s website devoted an unusual amount of space to gloating over the fate of the losing team, with headlines such as “Football’s not coming home”, “The arrogance hit them back”, “The English are sore losers” and even published a photo gallery titled “Look how the English cry after losing to Croatia” with pictures of downbeat players and fans.

Play Video 0:35 Fans in Zagreb celebrate Ivan Perisic's goal for Croatia against England – video

The 24 sata daily published a video from the team’s hotel, where players can be seen standing on a dinner table and singing along with veteran entertainer Mladen Grdovic. “Pinch yourself and don’t worry, you aren’t dreaming, this is reality,” wrote Marko Snidaric. “Close your eyes without any fear, and when you open them you’ll see Croatia celebrating. You’ll see Croatia crying. Out of happiness.”

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Jutarnji list gave central space to quotes from players. “Croatia is burning, but we haven’t burned down yet,” Danijel Subasic said. Sportske novosti, the nation’s only daily sports newspaper, was full of praise for the manager, Zlatko Dalic, claiming he has outdone every other Croatia coach by leading the team to the final. “France, who are better than England, can hardly stop them,” wrote Drazen Antolic. “That will be a true final, a top clash between the two sides who have shown the most at the tournament.”

Index.hr, a popular website, acknowledged that England were the better side in the first half, but when Ivan Perisic scored, Sasa Cobanov said, “it was the beginning of the end for the English”.

Telesport’s Juraj Vrdoljak compared Croatia’s second-half comeback to an “adrenaline-driven man lifting a truck to save his child”. Croatia emerged victorious, he stated, after “clinching her teeth and biting on a knife in the manner of Cholo’s commandos before using it to rip the history apart at the finishing line”.