Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers claims Scotland and other similar-sized countries can have no more excuses after Croatia reached the World Cup final.

Croatia set up a repeat of their 1998 semi-final against France after seeing off England on Wednesday.

The former Yugoslav republic have qualified for five of the six World Cups they have entered, while Scotland have been absent for 20 years now.

Scotland have never lost to Croatia in five meetings, four of them in qualifiers, but Rodgers feels the Scottish game can learn a lot from studying the World Cup finalists' success on the bigger stage.

The Northern Irishman said: "Every country, looking at Croatia, will feel they can do more.

"Croatia have qualified for tournaments over the last number of years and they have a population of four million. So it's a remarkable achievement to get to a World Cup final.

"Sometimes people will study Germany and all these big countries, but probably countries like Scotland need to look at what the likes of Croatia are working (with), because with their population, the relative success they have had has been phenomenal.

"They have maybe just had a generation of top-class players but you go back to 1998 as well so it's been over a long period of time they have produced exceptional players. So there is always learning that can take place.

"You can't keep making excuses, because you can look at Uruguay as well. Uruguay is a very small country also. So, stop making excuses and make it work. That's the idea."