Lovren's Croatia beat Argentina to advance at World Cup

Dejan Lovren's Croatia qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup by defeating Argentina 3-0 on Thursday evening.

Liverpool centre-back Lovren played the full 90 minutes in Nizhny Novgorod and helped his country to a comprehensive win that sealed their progress from Group D.

Lovren produced a superb, last-ditch block to divert Maximiliano Meza's shot over the crossbar early on in what was an evenly-matched first half.

But Croatia exerted their authority following the break, and Ante Coric put them ahead eight minutes after the restart.

Luka Modric's wonderful long-range effort duly doubled the Croats' advantage, before Ivan Rakitic's late strike put the gloss on a victory that booked their spot in the first knockout round with a pool fixture to spare.

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