Dejan Lovren replied in the only way that he could in the circumstances. Asked whether he was looking forward to playing against Harry Kane in Wednesday's World Cup semi-final, the Croatia defender said: "He deserves every credit he gets. The last few seasons he has always scored more than 25 goals. He is one of the best strikers in the world, but I like to challenge these strikers and to show to everyone that I am one of the best defenders."
Rewind to October 22nd, on an autumnal Sunday afternoon at Wembley, and there are 31 minutes on the clock. Lovren glances across to the technical area and sees that it his number being held up. Kane has already got away from Lovren twice, running in behind to score Tottenham Hotspur's first goal and leaving the defender in his wake again to set up a second. Lovren looked lost and totally disorientated. "Ambling about like a man recently winched up off the anaesthetist's table," Barney Ronay wrote in the Guardian the next day.
It was uncomfortable to watch. Lovren had strayed into that territory where a player becomes a danger to his own team, and Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, knew that he had to act. His words after the match felt just as damning as the decision to sub Lovren so early. "If I am involved in this situation on the pitch then Harry cannot get the ball," Klopp said. "It wouldn't happen if I was on the pitch – but I am in the middle of the technical area in trainers. Each job is clear but we couldn't do it."
Lovren is clearly a better footballer than he showed that day. And although his time at Anfield has been far from straightforward, by the end of the season it felt as though the balance had tipped to the point that the good outweighed the bad. Even his biggest critics at Anfield would acknowledge that he enjoyed an impressive Champions League campaign, forming a fine partnership with Virgil van Dijk.
The flak
Either way, Lovren has learned to live with the flak that comes his way. There is a story that he tells about his childhood and how, when he was only 12 years old, he wrote under the table at his apartment in Croatia: “One day I will be one of the best defenders in the world.”
People ridiculed him at school, said he “could not play like a defender”, lacked pace and was one-footed. Lovren, to his credit, used all that negativity as a source of motivation, and is entitled to take satisfaction from the fact that he has proved so many people wrong. There is no shortage of self-belief burning within him.
Yet at the age of 29 doubts persist about Lovren’s consistency at the highest level, and that nagging feeling that even on a good day there could be a blunder around the corner.
It feels strange that a player who has spent the last eight years in the top flight in France and England, being transferred for the best part of £35 million while moving from Dinamo Zagreb to Southampton to Liverpool, has represented his country only 44 times. He has rarely been a mandatory pick for Croatia, and if Vedran Corluka, the former Spurs defender, had not been plagued by injuries, Lovren may well have started this World Cup on the bench.
As it happens Lovren has started every game with the exception of the final group match against Iceland – when Croatia were already through to the last 16 – and only Luka Modric has played more minutes than him here. Not only that but Lovren has acquitted himself well so far. He has made more clearances and blocks than any other Croatia player, and only Ivan Rakitic and Modric have racked up more passes.
Golden Boot
Yet as steady as Lovren has looked at this World Cup, it would be understandable in the context of his battles with Kane last season – the Tottenham striker also scored at Anfield in the corresponding fixture – if there were some concerns at the back of the Liverpool defender’s mind about coming up against a player who is currently leading the race for the Golden Boot.
Publicly at least, Lovren insisted he was relishing that prospect, and gave the impression that he was more concerned about England’s threat from set-pieces. “Look at the players – the smallest is about 6ft 3in,” he said, smiling. “England are one of the favourites to win the World Cup, and you have to respect that. But we enjoy to play against big teams, as we showed against Argentina, and have nothing to lose.”
– Guardian
