Man of the Moment, Dejan Lovren!
Dejan Lovren believes he has shown he is one of the best defenders in world football after reaching both the Champions League and World Cup finals this summer.
Lovren was a defensive rock as Croatia came from behind to beat England in the semi-final on Wednesday and seal a date with France in Moscow on Sunday.
Coming just seven weeks after Liverpool's defeat by Real Madrid in Kiev, Lovren has used it to hit back at his critics.
'It's something, for me, special. From my point of view I had people saying I had a difficult season but I don't agree with that', he told beIN Sports.
'I took Liverpool to the final of the Champions League and now with my national team we are in the final.
'I think people should recognise that I am also one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense.'
Lovren came in for criticism in the first-half of last season, in particular when he was hooked off half-an-hour into a 4-1 defeat by Tottenham at Wembley.
Harry Kane wore the centre-back ragged, but it was Lovren who successfully marshalled the England captain at the Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday night.
And he is delighted that this current Croatian generation have finally lived up to, and now surpassed, the standards of the 1998 team which reached the semi-finals.
He continued: 'This is something we will never forget. People are crying. It's something historical for us. We will never forget this. We beat our record from 20 years ago. We've had this weight on our shoulders all the time, and now people will never forget us.