Lovren set to revisit a nightmare
IF 120 minutes in the deafening din and broiling heat of Sochi’s Fisht Stadium did not sap Dejan Lovren’s mental energy at the weekend, the Croatian defender is about to confront his biggest living nightmare.
It was Harry Kane who gave the Liverpool defender one of the worst afternoons of his career when Tottenham embarrassed their Premier League rivals at Wembley last October.
Undone by the ferocity and variation of Kane’s movement, the Croatian central defender was taken off by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after only 30 minutes to save him from further punishment, as Tottenham beat Liverpool 4-1 and Kane scored twice.
So it was interesting to hear Lovren talk so boldly about the prospect of tomorrow night’s semi-final confrontation in Moscow in the wake of his country’s shootout win over hosts Russia at the weekend.
‘The last few seasons he [Kane] has always scored more than 25 goals. He is one of the best strikers in the world,’ Lovren said.
‘But I like to challenge these strikers and to show to everyone that I am one of the best defenders.’
To Lovren’s credit, he recovered well from that day at Wembley. The January arrival of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton certainly helped and he was probably Liverpool’s best player in their Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid in May.
Frailties do remain, though. In March Lovren was dominated physically by Romelu Lukaku as Liverpool lost 2-1 at Manchester United and now he and Croatia are about to come up against an England team who have been devastating from set-pieces in this tournament.Croatia were the better team against Russia in Sochi but conceded from a set-piece and saw the hosts miss at least two other good headed chances.
‘We are not worried about England. We respect them, of course, and I think they respect us. It is two great teams and it will be a big challenge to see who is better.’
Croatia are happy to carry the underdogs tag into tonight’s game and insist they are not fazed by England’s seemingly serene journey through the tournament so far.
Lovren also claimed that the Croatian defence will not fall into the same trap as other nations have done — giving England penalties by grappling with them at corners. Asked if England were deliberately looking for penalties with the help of VAR, Lovren said: ‘No, I don’t think so. The first thing you want to do at a set-piece is to score, no?
‘We have nothing to lose and will enjoy the game and, hopefully, we can write history.’