Dejan Lovren Opens Up on 'Psychological' Battle of Coronavirus Lockdown
By Sean Walsh
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has revealed that it's been difficult to remain focused on maintaining his fitness and his side's push for the Premier League title amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Reds are 25 points clear at the top of the table and need just two more wins to secure the crown, and the Premier League are making plans, under the moniker of 'Project Restart', for the season to resume soon.
Lovren, now in his sixth season at Anfield, has said it's been tough to cope both physically and mentally during lockdown.
“It hasn’t been easy as we have been locked up in our homes for 46 days now,” he told Sportske Novosti.
“The psychological aspect is the most difficult to overcome. I work out on my own as much as I can, I kick the ball around a bit with my son on our lawn, but training with the team is totally different.
“I try to stay motivated any way I can. I get up in the morning and tell myself ‘I am going to get knackered in training today’ and at least I’ve managed to lose some weight.
“But I’ve also lost some mass on my legs because there is no substitute for a 90-minute team training session. You can’t do an indoor exercise on your legs for 90 minutes."
Lovren also made it clear that footballers wouldn't be able to cope with a bloated schedule upon returning to action, and called for the authorities to protect players.
“I hope [UEFA president] Aleksander Ceferin and all the other people from UEFA and FIFA will come up with a solution so that we don’t get into a situation of having to play 15 games in 30 days,” he added.
“We need time off. This hasn’t really been time off because the players will need to recover mentally from the pandemic and the resultant quarantine.”