MOSCOW: Croatia's Dejan Lovren has added to Argentina’s misery by declaring Lionel Messi is “stoppable” after his team’s shock 3-0 win over the South American giants, reports the Daily Mail.
Former Liverpool defender Lovren said he was not surprised that Croatia could neutralise Messi’s magic.
“Of course we respect Messi because he's the greatest player in the world, but he's also stoppable. We defended like a team and this is how we did it,” said Lovren.
According to Lovren, the Croatians did not consider it necessary to have a particular game plan to thwart Messi. “No, for Argentina, not for him,” he said.
“We believed, from the beginning, that we can do it, when we are really like a defending bloc, together, they didn't have big opportunities to be honest.”
The unexpected defeat to Croatia means Argentina must beat Nigeria in their final group D game on Tuesday.
Lovre, 28, said Croatia, who have maximum points from their opening two games, believed they could go further than the 1998 World Cup in France, when they finished third, beating the Netherlands for third place.
“We can do it, of course [we can do] better, and when you look on the team sheet, the players, we have better players than the previous of, 20 years ago, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't perform well.”
