Croatia manager Niko Kovac has claimed that side were not shown any respect during their 3-1 defeat against Brazil.

Kovac was angry that referee Yuichi Nishimura gave Brazil a penalty in the second-half for Dejan Lovren's foul on Fred, which he believed was the wrong decision.

"If that's how we start the World Cup, we better give it up now and go home," Kovac is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

"We talk about respect, that wasn't respect, Croatia didn't get any. If that's a penalty, we don't need to play football anymore. Let's play basketball instead. It's a shame."

Croatia face Cameroon in their next Group A fixture on June 18.

Written by
Alex Meyers