Dejan Lovren says the Qatar World Cup would be a better tournament if both of his former Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were playing in it.
Mane's Senegal knocked Salah's Egypt out of African qualifying to earn their place at the finals, but their talisman - who left the Reds for Bayern Munich this summer - s uffered a heartbreaking injury in the days leading up to the tournament.
The forward's absence has been keenly felt by Senegal, who went down 2-0 to the Netherlands in their opening game of the tournament on Monday.
Lovren, whose Croatia side opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Morocco on Wednesday, is a close friend of Salah and won the Premier League and Champions League alongside both him and Mane before leaving for Zenit St Petersburg in the summer of 2020.
Speaking after the Morocco game, the 32-year-old said he felt for both of his former colleagues.
"They are two big superstars, and I think the World Cup in Qatar misses big players like Salah and Sadio," said the centre-back.
"But this is the World Cup, there are other players, and the good thing is that Mo can still reach it. He's still young.
"Unfortunately for Sadio, it's unlucky, really bad luck, the last game before the World Cup, but Sadio will also come back."
Lovren's side were disappointing in their opening match of the tournament at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, registering just five shots in the match and just two on target.
Morocco goalkeeepr Yassine Bounou made impressive saves from both Andrej Kramaric and Nikola Vlasic towards the end of the first half, while Luka Modric also blazed over when well-placed.
Lovren lamented his side's lack of composure in attack, but says they can have no complaints with the result.
To be honest we weren't surprised at all," he said.
"When you look at the players and the clubs they're playing in, they are fantastic. It was a tough game for us.
"We had some moments but it wasn't good enough, and to be honest it is a fair point.
"We missed some chances to finish our attacks.
"Everyone was expecting us to win this game, but Morocco also missed chances so they could easily have won as well."
The goalless draw leaves both sides on a point in Group F ahead of the meeting between Belgium and Canada on Wednesday evening.
