After losing their opening Euro 2008 fixture 2-0 to Portugal, Turkey had a mountain to climb to make the last eight and they hardly made life any easier for themselves in the games against Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Against the Swiss, Turkey trailed at half-time and only snatched a 2-1 win thanks to Arda Turan's injury-time strike, while the Czech match was even more dramatic with Fatih Terim's men scoring three times in the last 15 minutes to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.

Those two triumphs helped Turkey claim second place in Group A behind Portugal, but for Croatia coach Bilic they also revealed some potentially useful insights into Terim's team ahead of tomorrow's quarter-final at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

"We know that the Turks came back twice against the Czech Republic and this shows how strong they are, that they have good quality, good morale and they don't give up," he said.

"This is certainly reason for praise but this also shows their weaknesses because nobody wants to trail their opponent and then have to come back.

"Until the match is over we must be fully concentrated and focused until the final whistle, this applies to any match. If course we would like to be leading 1-0 or 2-0 early on, but that will not affect our tactics."

Turkey may have rode their luck to get through to the quarter-finals, but Bilic has dismissed any suggestions that their opponents are lucky to be at this stage.

When asked to clarify a comment he made about the Turks previously, Bilic said: "I didn't say that the Turks were lucky to have come this far, at least no luckier than other teams because you always need luck to win.

"The Turks got to the quarter-finals because they deserved it."

He added: "I don't think there are any favourites now we are in the quarter-finals. All eight sides have come this far due to three tough matches, so there is no clear favourite in these quarter-finals."

As a player, Bilic was part of the Croatia side that faced Turkey during the 1996 European Championships.

Croatia won that match 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Goran Vlaovic to help qualify for the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by eventual winners Germany.

Turkey lost all three matches during that tournament, but since then they have reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2000 and the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.

Combining those performances with the displays of some of Turkey's club sides in Europe over the last few years, Bilic believes it is evident that they are a nation on the rise.

"I remember the 1996 match, it was tough, everyone was nervous, and we only scored near the end," he said

"We know Turkish football has advanced. The Turks were third in the World Cup, while we also remember Galatasaray in the Champions League and other clubs have also done well.

"It used to be a surprise when Turkey qualified for the tournaments, but now it's the opposite and it's a surprise if they don't qualify."