Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic confirms Marcelo Brozovic was taken off during the World Cup semi-final against Argentina because the Inter midfielder ‘felt a muscular twinge.’

The substitution was a surprise, especially as it occurred just five minutes into the second half.

His team had just completed two more substitutions during the half-time break, so using up a slot after five minutes seemed very odd.

“Marcelo felt a twinge in his muscle and so we decided not to use him to the end,” coach Dalic told HRT.

“We opted to conserve him to get him fit for the third place final.”

That will be against the losing team in tomorrow night’s semi-final between France and Morocco.

“I can’t blame the lads for anything, we controlled the game for the first half-hour, but at times luck is on your side and at times it isn’t.”

Once again, Croatia showed they lack a real centre-forward or are able to turn possession into scoring opportunities.

“We prepared everything, but we do lack a real striker. We wanted to give a bit more depth with Orsic, to be more vertical and move Ivan Perisic to the left, but after the third goal it was more difficult.

“If someone had told us before the World Cup started that we would reach this stage, we would’ve been happy with that. I think we can be proud of this team.”

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