Liverpool star feels he’s gone from zero to hero after return to form

Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren admits he “started from zero again” after a period on the sidelines at Anfield.

Lovren struggled with injuries last season, playing in just 18 games in all competitions, and also started the new campaign slowly as he failed to feature in the opening six Premier League matchday squads for the Reds.

But the Croatia international has now started in four of the last five Premier League games,due to the absence of Joel Matip, and Lovren admits that he had to start from scratch to force himself back into Jurgen Klopp’s plans.

“I started from zero again to prove that I deserve to be in the first XI but that’s football,” he told Sky Sports News.

“When you’ve been out for months in the last season and didn’t have so many minutes on the pitch, it’s about restarting. In pre-season, I did hard work behind the scenes and again, maybe it didn’t start as well as I thought it would, but I’ve been speaking with the manager, been patient and sometimes it’s easy to say that but not to do.

“I did it in the end and everything came back… It’s good to feel that you’re important here again and this is what matters for every player.”

There were rumours over the summer that Lovren could move away from Anfield, with several teams in Italy reportedly interested, but after a chat with Klopp, he decided to stay on Merseyside.

The defender added: “It’s a big place to leave after everything I went through here. There have been more positive days than the bad, especially after the Champions League final and the win was a big relief for me because I wanted to win something with this club, having been here for so many years.

“I would ask myself if we didn’t win, should I stay or not and there was some interest with some other clubs but I had a good conversation with the manager. After that, the decision was easy so I stayed and I think we are on the right path to do something big this season again.”

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