Dejan Lovren reveals vile threat to his family following Liverpool defeat by Tottenham

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Dejan Lovren has publicly revealed the sickening abuse that he received on social media in the wake of Liverpool’s defeat by Tottenham earlier this month.

The Croatia international was partly at fault for two of Spurs’ goals inside the opening 20 minutes of the 3-1 defeat, and he was hauled off by his manager Jürgen Klopp after half an hour as the German restructured his side in an attempt to salvage a result.

The German refused to single out Lovren despite the substitution, and he was set to continue in the starting line-up for the following weekend’s encounter with Huddersfield Town, only to withdraw after picking up an injury during the warm-up.

In the wake of that 3-0 victory over the Terriers, Lovren has posted a screengrab of a message that he received on social media that contained a vile threat to his family.

The message, which Lovren posted on his Instragram story, read: “I’m gonna murder ur family u Croatian p****.”

Lovren wrote the phrase “Horrible what kind of people we have…” on top of the image, and added: “I don't mind when people talk s*** about me, it says more about them!

“But I cannot ignore when my family is threatened. I just can't and won't accept that. Disgusting.”

Lovren is likely to return for Wednesday’s Champions League visit of Maribor at Anfield, and Klopp has shown that he will have no hesitations in selecting him, despite his high-profile errors in the Spurs defeat.

“I don't wish one of you to have your mistakes discussed in public. You cannot even imagine how it feels,” Klopp said of Lovren after the Spurs game.

“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. People don't become a better or a worse person through making a mistake in a football game.

“If I think about Dejan, I have much more positive things than negative things.”