Jordan Henderson has praised Luka Modric as the greatest midfielder he has ever faced.
The Brentford midfielder's comments come ahead of England's opening World Cup match against Croatia on Wednesday.
"I'm not even just saying this -- for me, he's probably the best that I've played against in my career, midfield-wise," Henderson told a news conference. "I think his career speaks for itself.
"I think he's a top, world class player. So hard to play against, the way he plays. Yeah, I'm a big, big fan of his.
"Hopefully he doesn't perform as well as we know he can against us, but I haven't seen him have a bad game yet, so it'll be a difficult test, of course, for whoever plays in midfield."
England were knocked out of the World Cup semifinals by Croatia in 2018, but are unbeaten in three matches against them since then, including a 1-0 win in the group stage at Euro 2020.
"For us, it's just about focusing on ourselves because it's not just him [Modric], there are other very, very good players in their squad as well," Henderson added. "They're a good team.
"So it'll be a tough test for us, but one that we're looking forward to, and I feel like if we're the best version of ourselves, then we can cause them problems also."
Henderson was also full of praise for his own midfield teammate, Jude Bellingham.
"I honestly couldn't speak highly enough of him," the 35-year-old said. "I know a lot gets written in the media and I find it hard to read sometimes, because I just know how big an influence he is on this team, how good a teammate he is off the field.
"What he gives us is just something really special. I think he really gives us the X factor in our team."
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He continued: "He's had big moments in his career, he's a big game player. He's got experience in tournaments, so he's a huge, huge player for us in this tournament.
"I think if you ask any player in the group, they'll tell you how much of a good teammate he is, how well he trains."