Mo Salah likes to mock pal Dejan Lovren that Croatia can only win on penalties.
But whereas the Egyptian King is out in Dubai with Liverpool gearing up for the return of the Prem, his ex-Reds teammate is revving up for a quarter-final clash with Brazil.
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The Balkan boys beat Japan on penalties having won two shootouts on their way to the 2018 final.
And defender Lovren, 33, said: “Maybe it’s written in the stars that Croatia needs to go like this.
“We need to suffer, but without suffering there is no reward.
“We showed the world we are in the best eight in the world, that 2018 wasn’t lucky.
“Especially my friend Salah, who said to me, ‘Ah, penalties, penalties’.”
Lovren joked that his brilliant cross for Ivan Perisic, cancelling out Daizen Maeda’s opener, was a fluke.
But he insists there was nothing fortunate about keeper Dominic Livakovic’s penalty heroics.
Livakovic was so good in practice that Croatia thought they were screwed if Monday’s last-16 clash went the distance.
The Zenit St Petersburg defender added: “He saved almost all penalties and we said, ‘My God, we are really bad!’
“Penalties are a lottery but I was a little bit more calm because he showed his qualities in training.”
Lovren and his team-mates face the Brazilians on Friday.
