Dejan Lovren relishing latest battle with Harry Kane

Croatia defender Dejan Lovren has insisted that he is up for the challenge of stopping Harry Kane in Wednesday evening's World Cup semi-final against England.

Lovren came out second best when facing the Tottenham Hotspur striker at club level nine months ago, being substituted a little over half an hour into Liverpool's 4-1 defeat with Kane already boasting a goal and an assist.

Despite Kane transferring his form from the Premier League into the World Cup, with six goals to his name in Russia, Croatia's centre-back believes that he has the ability to win their latest tussle.

"He's one of the best strikers in the Premier League," he told reporters. "He deserves every credit he gets. In the last few seasons he's always scored more than 25 goals and he's one of the best strikers in the world.

"But I like to challenge these strikers and to show to everyone that I'm one of the best defenders. England are one of the favourites to win the World Cup and you have to respect that. But we enjoy to play against big teams, as we showed against Argentina, and have nothing to lose."

Croatia have shipped four goals in their last three matches, with Lovren playing a full part in two of those and coming on as a sub in the other.