Tuesday 31 October 2017 18:33, UK
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has expressed his disgust after receiving a death threat aimed at his family on social media.
The Croatian, who has faced criticism this season after a series of poor performances for Liverpool, received a private message on Instagram from an unknown sender who threatened to "murder" his family.
Lovren uploaded a screenshot of the threat to his Instagram page, alongside the caption: "Horrible what kind of people we have."
The 28-year-old later 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."
Former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise tweeted his support for Lovren on Tuesday morning.
"Disgraceful to read about the comments toward Lovren and his family! Those are not fans! Shocking," said Riise.
"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."
Lovren was substituted midway through the first half of Liverpool's 4-1 defeat to Tottenham on October 22 and was later ruled out of the win over Huddersfield after sustaining an injury in the warm-up.
However, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has backed the defender to bounce back from a disappointing week.
"Of course it's not the nicest week in Dejan's life but it's only football," said Klopp. "People don't become a better or a worse person through making a mistake in a football game."
