Dejan Lovren is not playing for Croatia against Finland this week because his body simply can’t get through it.
The central defender, who’s come under intense criticism this season for lacklustre performances, has been playing through the pain – using injections to get through matches.
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But the Croatian Football Federation confirmed that following Lovren’s 90 minutes against Newcastle, he’ll only be an option for the Ukraine at the weekend.
Dejan Lovren will miss the match against Finland, but might recover from the injury for the game vs Ukraine.
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) October 2, 2017
Croatia boss Ante Cacic said: “Lovren is playing without training, with the help of injections and pills.”
“After every game it takes time for recovery.”
The defender deserves praise for putting his body on the line for us, but the fact he’s permanently injured makes the decision not to purchase an elite centre-back all the more ridiculous.
It’s not only that Lovren and Joel Matip are arguably not good enough, but one half of the pair is injecting himself to get through games.
Then his backup is Ragnar Klavan…
It’s a choice by Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp which looks all the more baffling every day.