Manchester City fullback Pablo Zabaleta admits Argentina's World Cup thrashing by Croatia will stun fans back home.

Zabaleta insisted he couldn't remember a performance worse than this from his country at a World Cup finals.

He told the BBC: "It's hard for me to say but they were really poor. Especially in the second half. They were so predictable and they didn't create anything – so many mistakes.

"They looked so frustrated in the last 15 minutes, just kicking people around. And it was tough, it was really tough for the Argentinian people."

When asked if he can remember a worse performance from Argentina, Zabaleta quickly responded: "No. No. No I cannot remember to be honest, a performance like that I can't remember in a long time.

"Yeah, we can talk about [Willy] Caballero's mistake that cost the game but it was not only that [sic] mistakes. I think the team looks very poor. We probably didn't see a shot from [Lionel] Messi in the second half. You don't hear that.

"He [Jorge Sampaoli] took [Sergio] Aguero off – why can't he play [Gonzalo] Higuain and Aguero up front both together? If I'm a Croatian defender and I have to play against Aguero and Higuain, I would be more worried about it. Probably also for the midfield to be closer to the centre back but it was really poor from Argentina."