Lovren aims to sink father figure Slaven
THE two men Dejan Lovren describes as his “father figures” go head-to-head at the London Stadium this afternoon as Liverpool seek the points that would ensure Champions League qualification.
The Croatian centreback credits West Ham boss Slaven Bilic with launching his career and Jurgen Klopp with taking it to a new level, illustrated by his backing for Lovren’s recently-signed four-year contract extension.
But much as he has to thank the former Croatian national boss for, Lovren is desperate to get the better of Bilic to go a long way towards guaranteeing a top-four finish.
“Bilic was a big influence on my early career. I was just 19 when he gave me my first call for the national team,” he says.
“It was a big day for me and from that moment everything went well. I’m still in a good relationship with him but I hope I’m the one smiling today.
“We have now these two last games to play and it’s like a semi-final and a final. We know what we need to do to be in the final against Middlesbrough next week.
“But it’s never easy against West Ham. We’ve always had problems with them.”
Lovren has had his share of critics since he joined Liverpool from Southampton for £20m in 2014, but Klopp has never been one of them.
“Jurgen is definitely the right manager for me,” he says. “He took a big part in everything I did from day one.
“He gave me confidence because he believed in me.
“He told me it was just one game that made him notice me. That was my Liverpool debut, a friendly against his Dortmund side when we won 4-0 and I scored.
“I have had my ups and downs but he explained that expectations are big because we are a club with big ambitions.
“When you have somebody behind you who has stuck with you even in the bad moments, it means a lot.
“Jurgen is like a father to us. He is not our best friend but he’s someone to help and give the best advice.
“Bilic is similar. I saw an article by Mark Noble, the West Ham skipper, and he said that even in the bad moments this season the players stuck by him.
“You know the quality of the manager when that happens.
“I’ve known Bilic for many years and he’s a really good guy, even though he was a nasty centre half!
“Am I a nice centre-half? Up to now I’ve never received a red card so I think I’m OK.”
Lovren believes that the reason Liverpool are scrapping for third and fourth place, not the title, is mainly down to injuries.
“If we hadn’t had so many injuries, we would certainly have more points,” he says.
“It started after we won against Manchester City and we were second. Then Sadio Mane went to the African Cup and Phil Coutinho, Jordan Henderson and I got injured.”
“Sometimes you need to be lucky, especially in the Premier League, and we have missed so many players.”