Dejan Lovren was left delighted with his Liverpool debut, after the £20million signing from Southampton put in an excellent performance at the heart of the defence as the Reds rounded off pre-season with a 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund at Anfield.
The Croatian has been made to wait for his Liverpool debut after failing to get a Visa in order to join the tour of America, but looked to make up for lost time at Anfield yesterday, even heading in a debut goal from a Steven Gerrard corner.
“It was an amazing game,” the centre half told LiverpoolFC.com after the final whistle.
“We’re talking about Dortmund, who are in the Champions League every year and first or second in the German league.
“They are a quality team. We showed a quality style of football, with four goals and a clean sheet. It was amazing for us.
“We played very well and it was a good start for me also because I haven’t had a long time with the team – but I feel like I’ve been here for a month already. It was a great start ahead of the season.
“The coach has a similar style to what I had before at Southampton, so it was much easier for me to adapt here. I’m really glad about that.
“I have another week before the Southampton game so [the whole squad and I] will have time to meet each other. But I’ve already settled down here.”
Brendan Rodgers was also full of praise for Lovren’s performance, even stating he can see the Croatian being the long term replacement for club legend Jamie Carragher.
“Dejan was perfect,” said Rodgers. “He is exactly what I’ve been looking for since Jamie Carragher left. He is a dominant, No?1 centre-half, who reads the game well, offers good guidance to the back four and the rest of the team – and shows his qualities of range of passing too. You saw with the pass to Coutinho in the build-up to the first goal.
“Just like he showed against us last year he’s dominant in the box – both in ours and the opposition’s – and I thought he was excellent.”
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