CROATIA’S players have stoked ethnic tensions by celebrating their 3-0 World Cup victory against Argentina by singing a nationalist song glorifying the Balkan country’s wartime struggle against the Serbs.

A brief clip shows Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren singing the song with other players in the dressing room after Thursday’s match.

The song by a popular Croatian singer known as Thompson starts with a chant used by Croatia’s pro-Nazis during the Second World War.

It also mentions chasing Serb “bandits” from Croatia in the war between the former Yugoslav republics in the 1990s.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said: “If I was in their place, I would be happy with the victory. For some people, their hatred for their neighbours is more important.”

Croatia and Serbia could meet in later rounds at the World Cup.