31 MINUTES OF HUMILIATION
Croatia defender Lovren was subbed to save further punishment from Harry Kane at Wembley.. now they face each other again in the World Cup semi-final
DEJAN LOVREN will have a point to prove against Harry Kane in tomorrow’s World Cup showdown.
The Croatia defender was humiliated by Kane last season as his Liverpool side were humbled 4-1 by Tottenham at Wembley in the Premier League.
Lovren was at fault for Spurs’ first two goals and could not live with Kane – who scored twice – to the extent Kop boss Jurgen Klopp hauled him off (left) after 31 minutes.
It was a chastening experience for Lovren and against that backdrop – and with Kane already on six goals in Russia to lead the race for the Golden Boot – Lovren faces another huge test against him.
But while the 29-year-old centreback acknowledged Kane’s prodigious qualities as a striker, Lovren said he was relishing the challenge of trying to nullify the threat posed by the England skipper.
“He’s one of the best strikers in the Premier League,” said Lovren. “He deserves every credit he gets.
“In the last few seasons he’s always scored more than 25 goals and he’s one of the best strikers in the world.
“But I like to challenge these strikers and to show to everyone that I’m one of the best defenders.”
Lovren’s defensive prowess was certainly lacking in the Reds’ defeat to Spurs last October, with his judgment, positioning and decisionmaking lamentable.
But Lovren, who joined Liverpool from Southampton for £20million in 2014, said Croatia do not fear the Three Lions, despite acknowledging their strengths.
“We’re not worried, no,” said Lovren. “We respect them, of course, and I think they respect us.
“It’s a game between two great teams and it will be a big challenge to see who is better. England are dangerous at set-pieces.
“Look at the players – the smallest is about 6ft 3in, so it will be a challenge. But we also have qualities at set-pieces.
“But we’re not defensive. We like to play our game against big teams, as we showed against Argentina when we beat them 3-0.
“We will show our attacking style again, so we have nothing to lose.”
Croatia came through a second successive bout of extra-time and penalties to beat hosts Russia and book their semi-final place against England.
Despite their gruelling path to the last four Lovren, who along with keeper Danijel Subasic did not train yesterday, claimed they are getting mentally stronger with each challenge they navigate in Russia.
“It was massive,” said Lovren. “It’s given us confidence for the next game. We deserved to win against Russia earlier, but they scored late on. But we believed until the end and that’s why we succeeded.”
Lovren claimed Croatia are the underdogs going into tomorrow’s encounter at the Luzhniki Stadium but said the team under coach Zlatko Dalic (above) can pull off another big win.
“England are now one of the favourites to win the World Cup and you have to respect that,” said Lovren.
“But we have nothing to lose. We’ll enjoy the game and hopefully we can write some history.
“We were underdogs from day one and that’s good for us.
“Look at the other teams – England, France and Belgium.
“They’re top teams from the start of the tournament.
“We’re the underdogs, but hopefully we can change something.”