Earlier this season Dejan Lovren spoke out after receiving death threats from Liverpool fans.
His house was burgled when he was playing a game and then the club spent £75m on a central defender who initially demoted him to third choice.
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Watching Lovren welcome his best pal Salah back from Egypt duty is beautiful
Most footballers would be forgiven for seeking a transfer, or at least happily waiting on the bench until the summer – and exiting then.
But Croatian Lovren has never doubted his abilities, unlike the majority of Liverpool supporters.
Last night he put in a Man of the Match performance that was just as good as his sensational show last week against Manchester City in the first leg.
Alongside Virgil van Dijk he looks a new player, and should be getting lauded by all corners today.
In this interesting interview he also explains how he took responsibility tactically at half-time and gave a rousing speech to his team-mates.
“To be honest I was shouting a bit at half time,” Lovren told the Daily Mail. “I told the lads to wake up because it was not good enough and I said we were sitting too deep. Of course Klopp said ‘Yes you are sitting too deep because you are not pushing up’.
“He wanted me and Virgil to be more compact and push the team up but it was quite difficult, you know,to push up when City had the ball. It was all positive; there was nothing negative. But I needed to remind the guys that we had 50 minutes to be in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
“We needed to give more. The first 10-15 minutes (of the first half) wasn’t good enough. When you see the second half, again they had a couple of chances but nothing too serious. We talked on the pitch, a few of us, and said (after Jesus scored) we need to keep our heads and stick together.
“We had luck in a couple of moments to be honest, but when you look over the two games we have been brave and when you are brave the luck goes with you. When you go and score two goals it is enough. We deserved that.”
If he maintains his current level, we may already have the long-term van Dijk partner on our books.
The fact Lovren is still giving his all to the cause after the years of rubbish he’s had to endure speaks volumes about the man’s character.
It’s probably time we accept as a fanbase that ‘Klopp knows best,’ and the German clearly rates Lovren very highly.