Dejan Lovren floors 'Pussy Riot' pitch invader during World Cup final

Croatia centre back Dejan Lovren accosted a pitch invader during Sunday's World Cup final in Moscow.

France, who went on to win the match 4-2, led 2-1 when four protesters stormed the field in the 52nd minute.

One male protester made a beeline for Lovren and appeared to be hoping to receive a high-five, but instead found himself thrown to the floor by the Croatian Liverpool defender.

Meanwhile, a female pitch-invader reached Kylian Mbappe in the centre of the pitch and shared a double high-five with the France forward.

The four protesters, all of whom were dressed as security personnel, were then dragged off the field by stewards and police.

Russian punk rockers Pussy Riot claimed responsibility for the pitch invasion.

The anarchist group have been vocal critics of president Vladimir Putin, who  was in attendance at the Luzhniki Stadium.

One of the protesters was reported to be 28-year-old Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who was jailed in 2012 for 'hooliganism' after an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral.

Pussy Riot made a list of demands after Sunday's stunt. One was 'to release all political prisoners' and 'stop illegal arrests at rallies'. They also called for an end to fabricating criminal cases and jailing protesters.

In a statement released just moments after the invasion, the group explained their motives: 'NEWS FLASH! Just a few minutes ago four Pussy Riot members performed in the FIFA World Cup final match — 'Policeman enters the Game''.

'Today is 11 years since the death of the great Russian poet, Dmitriy Prigov. Prigov created an image of a policeman, a carrier of the heavenly nationhood, in the russian culture.'

Their statement also referenced the case of Oleg Sentsov, a vocal opponent of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, who was sentenced in 2015 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit terror acts. He denies the charges and has been on a hunger strike since mid-May.

One of the four protesters, Olga Kurachyova, confirmed to Reuters that she had been detained by the police, adding she was in a police station at the Luzhniki Stadium.