Croatians off to the couch but not to the pharmacists; EURO 2008 DIARY.

THEY were the better team, stung by a late equaliser when it seemed they had booked their passage into the semi-finals and now it is time for Croatia to deal with the fallout.

And it seems they are going in for some extreme measures before locking horns with England in the World Cup qualifiers.

Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List acquired the help of psychiatrist Mirela Vlastelica to tell their readers how to cope with the upset, and it's bad news for the pharmaceutical industry.

He said: "The supporters must think of September when the qualifiers begin. From now until then it is vital that you don't disrupt your daily routine, do not stop working and, above all, don't take tranquilisers."

Money-back mayhem

Remember the days when goalless draws used to have bookmakers racing to the hills with bagloads of our cash?

Well both Paddy Power and Bet365 were licking their wounds after fans took advantage of their money-back specials. Bet365 paid back pounds 250,000 after refunding losing correct-score, double result and score cast bets when two of the four quarter-finals ended goalless.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power handed back losing match bets on Turkey and Spain after their games featured no goals for a total of pounds 500,000.

Coral, however, were able to maintain a traditional stance.

Spokesman David Stevens said: "With three draws and Germany beating Portugal, we could not have asked for a better set of results."

Zidane loves No. 10

Not only has Russia star Andrei Arshavin set the tournament alight, his surname has produced plenty of cheap laughs along the way.

And it suggests Zinedine Zidane's English is pretty good, seeing as the France legend has shrewdly opted not to try to say the mini magician's surname.

"When you see their No. 10, it's great," said Zidane. "I call him No. 10 because I can't say his name properly."

Can't or won't?

It's somewhat annoying that the suspension Arshavin picked up for retaliation against Andorra deprived us of two more displays at the championship, but then you have to hand it to Steve McClaren, because without the wally with the brolly we wouldn't have seen the Russia ace in Austria and Switzerland at all.

TOP FIVE

Bizarre observations

1 Spain fans finding their voice by singing that classic ode to the package holiday Y Viva Espana

2Watching a match where the crowd can sit in the stands drinking beer and smoking cigarettes like some bygone age

3 Who on earth came up with the idea that a visit to the locations used for the film The Third Man would be a good way of filling halftime between Spain and Italy, even if it did save us from more Alan Shearer on the BBC?

4 The fact that so many players can go through the pain of having tattoos, but roll around in agony after being pushed over

5 The fact that Luca Toni and Mario Gomez scored 56 goals between them for their German clubs last season