We can eclipse ’98 says Dejan
DEJAN LOVREN has turned back the to clock 20 years as he prepares to go even further in the World Cup than Croatia’s greatest team.
“I was nine years old, I remember my mum screaming in the house when we scored,” said the Liverpool defender as he recalled Croatia’s 2-1 win over Holland to secure third place in 1998.
It was a World Cup in France the people of Croatia will never forget, losing 2-1 in the semi-finals to the host nation after beating Germany 3-0 in an unforgettable quarterfinal.
Now Croatia are one game away from the last eight again, facing Denmark in Nizhny Novgorod tomorrow night, and Lovren wants to make history of his own.
“We can beat that, definitely, but we need luck. We have a good opponent in the next round, it will be difficult,” he said.
Aiding in that quest has been the form of Luka Modric, who scored a superb longrange strike against Argentina, and fellow midfield stand-out Ivan Rakitic.
Their opponents, meanwhile, are on a 17-match unbeaten run, but they reached the last 16 having scored only two goals in the group stages. Denmark coach Age Hareide has promised a more attacking style and midfielder Thomas Delaney said: “We know that we don’t seem like the most fearsome bunch to go up against.
“We’re not going to lose 5-0 by trying to play tiki-taka football. But people shouldn’t get used to seeing us play like we did [in a goalless draw] against France. It’s seldom that we play like this.
“The game against Croatia will be a different spectacle.”