Dejan Lovren has made a bold Lionel Messi claim ahead of World Cup tie with Argentina
The Liverpool defender helped Croatia to a flying start in Russia when they defeated Nigeria with two unreplied goals on Saturday.
Lovren is expressing excitement in facing the two greatest players on earth in weeks inciting a head to head Champions League final with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi meanwhile had an unlucky opening-game with Iceland after he missed a penalty in Argentina's 1-1 draw last Saturday.
"We know how to play against the big teams and we are not scared of them,” Lovren said.
“They have one of the best players in the world, maybe the best, in Messi.
“But when you saw their game against Iceland, they did a great job and showed how to defend against him.
“You can’t stop him with one player, you have to defend like a team. You saw that with Iceland.
“It’s an honour, of course, to play against the biggest players in the world.
“A few weeks ago, I played against Cristiano Ronaldo (in the Champions League final for Liverpool), two weeks ago it was Neymar (in a friendly at Anfield) and now it’s Messi.
“That’s something you want to do from childhood – to play against the biggest.”
Argentina currently sit behind Iceland in Group D and Messi knows his penalty miss was costly.
“It would have changed the script. It was the advantage,” he said.
“Obviously it hurts me to have missed the penalty. They would have opened a little more and we could have found more spaces.”
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