Croatia's game against Nigeria on Saturday evening was anything but a classic.

The European nation emerged 2-0 victors from the game, sending them top of the group and putting them in a great position to qualify for the last-16.

An own goal and a Luka Modric penalty sealed the win, but the standard of football was pretty dire from start to finish.

Despite the fact they drew 1-1 with a determined Iceland in their first game, Argentina will surely not be too scared of Croatia after their display vs the Super Eagles.

Nevertheless, with a team containing Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Ivan Perisic, the Croatians will fancy their chances.

But there was some worrying news to emerge from their camp after the game, with reports on Monday morning stating that striker Nikola Kalinic had been sent home from Russia.

And the reason why will have football fans raging.

As reported by the Mirror, Kalinic actually refused to come on for the final eight minutes of the game because he of a supposed back problem.

The manager was not convinced, with the injury not brought to his attention prior to the match.

Imagine that, refusing to represent your country at a World Cup finals for that reason. Juventus' Marko Pjaca duly stepped up to come on instead.

What's worse is that it leaves Croatia desperately short in the centre forward department, with Mario Mandzuckic now the only recognised striker left in the squad.

Should he pick up a tournament-ending injury, Croatia will have to turn to either Perisic or Andrej Kramaric.

It surely spells the end of Kalinic's international career, with his domestic one also in freewill after a disastrous spell at AC Milan in 2017/18.

The fans there are not too fond of him and he will surely not be kept on after this summer.

Not a great 12 months...