Jurgen Klopp actually backs up Dejan Lovren’s world class claims

You'll notice that the greatest players in the world don't often feel the need to remind supporters of their quality.

Dejan Lovren has had more than his fair share of criticism in recent years but, to be fair to the centre-half, not many people can say they've made it to the Champions League final and the World Cup final in the same year. Lovren is part of a Croatia team which has exceeded all expectations by reaching the biggest game in world football. The defender will start Sunday's World Cup final against France but he raised several eyebrows earlier this week when he demanded more respect for his abilities.

"I took Liverpool to the final of the Champions League and now with my national team we are in the final. People should recognise that I am also one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense," Lovren said after Croatia's semi-final victory over England.

https://twitter.com/matshummels/status/1018063147821944834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1018063147821944834&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fsport%2Fhummels-tweet-lovren-189690 Lovren could return to Merseyside a world champion and after Liverpool's most recent preseason friendly, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp was asked for his take on Lovren's confident comments. Klopp raised a good point by saying that Lovren would have been better off letting someone other than himself praise his defensive prowess before explaining why the 29-year-old is not off the mark.

"It would be better if someone else said that and not Dejan," Klopp laughed. "But actually, he is right."

Oh God. https://twitter.com/TomMunns1/status/1018176309191692289 And he explained it.

"The only problem is no-one actually thinks about it but if you go into the detail it is not a big surprise. Croatia do not have world class right-back and left-back, but they do not concede. In the middle of the park Rakitic and Modric are offensive, so somebody must fix all that and he is a big part of it.