Dejan Lovren labels Lionel Messi 'stoppable' after Croatia piled on the agony for Argentina

  • Argentina were left on the brink of elimination by Croatia on Thursday night
  • Dejan Lovren insists the Croats made no special plans to deal with Lionel Messi
  • A 3-0 victory in Nizhny Novogrod sent Croatia into the last 16 at the World Cup

Croatia's Dejan Lovren has piled on the agony for Argentina by saying Lionel Messi was 'stoppable' during the European side's shock 3-0 win and that it was no surprise that he had been shackled.

As Argentina came to terms with the enormity of the defeat on Friday - 'Broken' and 'Humiliating' declared headlines in Buenos Aires - the Liverpool defender rejected any idea that Croatia expected Messi to make life very hard for them. 

Asked if he was surprised by how quiet Messi had been, he replied: 'No. 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.'

Dejan Lovren called Lionel Messi 'stoppable' after Croatia's 3-0 victory over Argentina

Dejan Lovren called Lionel Messi 'stoppable' after Croatia's 3-0 victory over Argentina

Lovren said 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 punishing defeat means Argentina will have to beat Nigeria in their final group D game on Tuesday.

Lovren hinted that the preparations for that game, in Rostov-on-Don, might not be the most intense for the European side.

Lovren said: 'Now we can - how you say - [rest] easily for the third game against Iceland. Of course, we want to finish first in the group and then let's check who we get later on.'

Messi endured a night to forget as Argentina were put on the brink of World Cup elimination

Messi endured a night to forget as Argentina were put on the brink of World Cup elimination

Argentina must beat Nigeria and hope Iceland fail to win against Croatia to reach the last 16

Argentina must beat Nigeria and hope Iceland fail to win against Croatia to reach the last 16

The 28-year-old said that the Croatians, 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 Holland in the third place play-off as striker Davo Suker won the tournament's Golden Boot for his six goals.

He said: '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. 

'But if we are like today, through all the tournament, I believe we can go far.

'I think the teams and people will realise they should respect Croatia. And also I would say we have one of the toughest groups but also we showed we can manage to play under pressure. We deserve this win.'

Lovren has had a difficult season at Liverpool and when asked if he empathised about Willy Cabellero's catastrophic error because of Loris Karius' howler for Liverpool in the Champions League final, he would not answer. 

Lovren insisted that Croatia made no special plans to deal with Messi in Nizhny Novogrod

Lovren insisted that Croatia made no special plans to deal with Messi in Nizhny Novogrod

Lovren celebrates in front of the Croatian supporters after their Group D win on Thursday

Lovren celebrates in front of the Croatian supporters after their Group D win on Thursday

'We played not against Real Madrid. What's the question?' he said. 'Come on - another question.'

Lovren compared Luka Modric's sublime strike, which killed off the Argentinians, to the midfielder's equaliser for Real Madrid against Manchester United in the Champions League, five years ago, which transformed his reputation among fans in the Spanish capital, 'He was again one of the best players today,' Lovren said. 

'I will say he has this calmness, so much experience in his career, he knows how to play these big games.'

He insisted there was no round-of-16 team Croatia wanted to avoid. 'I don't see any... we played a friendly against Brazil [losing 2-0] but we showed we can play first half. 

'For me [they are] also one of the favourites, and we are not too scared against anyone. When you look today, it's 3-0 against Argentina. This is a big, big game. I don't know when they lost the last time 3-0 at the World Cup.'