'I'm going to murder your family': Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren shares Instagram death threat
- Dejan Lovren shared a death threat he received that threatened his family
- The 28-year-old Liverpool defender described the message as 'disgusting'
- Lovren has endured a difficult start to the season due to inconsistent form
Dejan Lovren has been incensed by a revolting message on social media threatening to kill his family.
The Liverpool defender has been targeted by internet trolls before and criticism has intensified since a poor performance 10 days ago at Tottenham, where he was substituted after 30 minutes.
This latest development, however, had a chilling twist as Lovren was sent an Instagram message in which he was told: 'I'm gonna murder (your) family'.
Dejan Lovren received a death threat against him and his family on Instagram
Lovren shared the message itself (left) and another describing it as 'disgusting'
Lovren, who is doubtful for tonight's Champions League clash with Maribor with an injury he sustained before Saturday's Premier League victory over Huddersfield, was appalled and posted a video in response.
'I don't mind when people talk s*** about me, it says more about them,' Lovren wrote. 'But I cannot ignore when my family is threatened. I just can't and won't accept that. Disgusting.'
Merseyside Police were aware of the message, but as of last night they had not been contacted by Lovren and were waiting to see if he wanted them to make enquiries.
Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise quickly voiced support for Lovren after seeing the level of abuse he had received.
'Disgraceful to read about the comments toward Lovren and his family! Those are not fans! Shocking!' Riise said.
'You can talk about performances and playing good or bad. That's part of the game. Keep family and stupid comments out of it! You go Lovren.'
Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise was quick to offer his support to Lovren
Riise took to Twitter to denounce the abuse that the 28-year-old received
The 28-year-old Croatia centre-back has endured a difficult start to the Premier League season with Liverpool, with many fans calling for Jurgen Klopp to drop him from the first-team due to inconsistent form.
He was substituted off after only 31 minutes of Liverpool's 4-1 defeat by Tottenham at Wembley earlier this month after being at fault for two goals.
Lovren was named in Liverpool's starting line-up in the 3-0 win over Huddersfield on Saturday but sustained an injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Ragnar Klavan.
The incident has detracted from what should be a relatively straightforward night against a team Liverpool thrashed 7-0 in Slovenia 15 days ago.
Lovren has endured a difficult start to the 2017-18 season due to inconsistent form
Despite that result, manager Jurgen Klopp said: 'If we win 1-0, I will be perfectly fine. This group is quite open but I don't care about the group, I care about the team.
'We want to go through. To let it slip through our fingers would be crazy.'
'I don't wish one of you to have your mistakes discussed in public,' Klopp said last Friday. 'You cannot even imagine how it feels.
'The boys are in the first place still human beings but you look like you are watching an accident and you are the kind of people standing around with smartphones instead of helping. I'm not this kind of person.
'We had a normal week. Of course it's not the nicest week in Dejan's life but it's only football.'
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