PREM STAR GETS DEATH THREATS

LIVERPOOL defender Dejan Lovren has received death threats to his family on Instagram by his own club’s fans.

Lovren uploaded a screen grab of the initial message, where a follower threatens to murder his family, with the caption “horrible what kind of people we have.”

He then shared his own message with his followers, saying: “I don’t mind when people talk s*** about me, it says more about them!

“But I cannot ignore it when my family is threatened. I just can’t and won’t accept that. Disgusting.”

Liverpool FC are not commenting on the situation but the club take player security and well-being seriously and will offer centre-back Lovren support.

Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise quickly backed for Lovren after seeing the level of abuse he had received.

“Disgraceful to read about the comments toward Lovren and his family! Those are not fans! Shocking!” Riise said.

“You can talk about performances and playing good or bad. That’s part of the game. Keep family and stupid comments out of it!”

Defeat

Croatian Lovren, 28, has endured a difficult start to the Premier League season with Liverpool, with many fans calling for Jurgen Klopp to drop him from the first-team due to inconsistent form.

He was substituted after only 31 minutes of Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat by Tottenham at Wembley earlier this month after being at fault for two goals.

Lovren was named in Liverpool’s starting line-up in the 3-0 win over Huddersfield on Saturday but picked up an injury in the warmup and was replaced by Ragnar Klavan.

Reds boss Klopp had defended Lovren in the build-up to the match at Anfield, insisting that the level of scrutiny surrounding him was unfair.

“I don’t wish one of you to have your mistakes discussed in public,” Klopp said last Friday. “You can’t even imagine how it feels.

“The boys are human beings but you look like you are watching an accident and you are the kind of people standing with smartphones instead of helping. I’m not this kind of person.

“We had a normal week. Of course it’s not the nicest week in Dejan’s life but it’s only football.”