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Croatia have won all four of their previous play-off ties - to reach either World Cup or European Championship tournaments - and have booked a place at nine out of 11 major finals as an independent nation.

In fairness to Greece, Croatia are hardly a side you want to run into are they?

Croatia will be thrilled with this start. Relatively solid at the back, they don't really look like they will be broken down enough to squander a three goal lead. Ivan Perisic chases a ball down the left flank and makes it. He cuts back onto his right foot, throws a dummy to clear some shooting space and then pulls the attempt wide.

Vasilis Torosidis is a very lucky boy. He clatters Mario Mandzukic on the edge of the area. That was a whisker from being a penalty but will be a free-kick only.

Ivan Rakitic over it, on the angle of the penalty box... over the bar.

Croatia have a free-kick near the corner flag which Luka Modric hits the first man with. My soon-to-be favourite right-back in world football Sime Vrsaljko shows me there are some flaws to his game by producing the worst shot I have possibly ever seen. That was basically an up 'n under.

Panagiotis Tachtsidis goes into the book for saying too much to the referee I think. Either that or he's been done for using too much hair gel. Could be either.

The opening 20 minutes have seen Greece with more of the ball and bettering the territory. If you're just joining us they had a decent penalty shout and have flashed an effort narrowly wide moments ago.

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I believe Switzerland's progress now takes us to 27 of 32 teams qualified for the World Cup. Their flags are on the tweet below. So who do you fancy to land the spoils in Russia?

Any dark horses in there?

Tweet me on #bbcfootball.

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Greece centre-back Sokratis is up for a set-piece delivery and stays there for the remainder of the attack. A ball is chested down to him 18 yards out and he gets over the bouncing ball to fire just wide. Good hit.

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If Greece are to pull of the unthinkable tonight then Konstantinos Mitroglou will surely have to play a key role. In fairness to him, he got into good areas in the first leg and went close with a couple of second-half headers.

Some of you will of course remember Mitroglou for his £12m move to Fulham which delivered just three appearances and no goals in 2014.

This is a man who has won six league titles in Greece and two in Portugal. Aged 29, his career is back on track after a productive spell with Benfica and he now has two goals in four league outings for Marseille.

Sime Vrsaljko, the classy Atletico Madrid right back I now have great interest in, plays a super ball into the corridor of uncertainty. No one wants anything to do with it.

Anastasios Bakasetas is feeling fine tonight. He's wearing his best aftershave, felt good in the warm-up and has the feel-good vibe you get from making his Christmas list this morning. All of these plus points have him itching to shoot from 40 yards. He does and the effort stinks... over the bar.

Greece should have had a penalty in slightly odd circumstances.

A cross from the left is overhit but Zeca is in there hunting at the back post and the ball will land over his shoulder but not go out for a goal kick. As he turns to pursue it in flight Ivan Strinic has a little tug of his shirt and then kind of collapses onto the back of Zeca's legs. It's clumsy and a foul for me. Nothing doing.

Croatia sporting nice tight lines with little room between their defence, midfield and attack. Luka Modric draws a foul on halfway and gets up with the strut of a man who will take this kind of fractured game all night long. He's playing closest to Nikola Kalinic in these early stages but there's little adventure from both sides.

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One man who looked the part in the first leg is Croatia right-back Sime Vrsaljko.

The 25-year-old joined Atletico Madrid from Sassuolo this summer for what some reports say was around £14m. He has some legs, rampaging up and down the flank and his energy created two goals in the first exchange between these sides.

I like the look of him indeed. Keep your eye on him tonight if you're tuning in.

I'll bring you more on Croatia right-back Sime Vrsalijko next but I really do like what he's about. He gets forward to the dead-ball line and clips a low cross into the area, it prompts a panic and a clearance for the game's first corner.

An early sign maybe that the Greece defence will remain a little welcoming.

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Greece win a free-kick on the flank, a chance to load up the box and put this in the blender. Right-footer, in swinger from my gorgeously named mate Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, it's headed away.

Zeca in midfield for Greece grimaces in frustration after he's adjudged of fouling a rival in the air on halfway.

Kostas Manolas tries to thread a ball from deep for Greece but it gets given a no nonsense boot downfield by the Croatia defence. Interestingly no one gives chase. They look more than happy to just sit in early on and make no bold moves.

It looks like we'll be seeing 4-2-3-1 from the home side and 4-3-3 from the visitors. Early on Greece have some possession but Croatia are well set. Their two wide forwards drop back to make a 4-5-1 while they monitor the home passes. Nikola Kalinic is the man who stays furthest forward for Croatia.

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Greece, over to you. Go on, make it a thriller.

Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium doesn't look totally full as the players walk out onto the turf. The home national anthem can be described as "solid" rather than being a real belter.

Striker Kostas Mitroglou keeps his head down for the anthem. He looks like a nipper on the naughty wall.

A colleague points out we have a Dutch referee speaking English to a Croatian captain in Luka Modric and Greek leader Vasilis Torosidis in the middle of the pitch. Modric elects to stay in the end of the pitch where his side are stationed. We are ready for the off.

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Greece make six changes from the first-leg hammering, including three of their back four. Only Borussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos keeps his place in defence. Captain Vasilis Torosidis returns alongside him.

The disastrously named for a live text commentator Lazaros Christodoulopoulos starts in midfield.

For Croatia, just one switch. But it's a big one. Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic returns from a hamstring problem and replaces Andrej Kramaric.

Greece: Karnezis, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Manolas, Retsos, Zeca, Tziolis, Tachtsidis, Christodoulopoulos, Bakasetas, Mitroglou. Subs: Kapino, Maniatis, Tzavelas, Papadopoulos, Diamantakos, Fortounis, Gianniotas, Stafylidis, Samaris, Oikonomou, Anestis.

Croatia: Subasic, Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic, Rakitic, Brozovic, Mandzukic, Modric, Perisic, Nikola Kalinic. Subs: Livakovic, Mitrovic, Vlasic, Kramaric, Nizic, Rebic, Rog, Bradaric, Leovac, Pasalic, Pivaric, Lovre Kalinic.