Dalic to speak with Lovren about Ramos comments

Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic says he will speak privately to Dejan Lovren over comments he made about Sergio Ramos.

Lovren appeared to take aim at Spain captain Ramos in the aftermath of Croatia’s 3-2 Nations League victory over Luis Enrique’s side in Zagreb on Thursday.

In an Instagram live video, the Liverpool defender inferred that he had elbowed Ramos deliberately when competing for a header.

Lovren also said: "Aha! Aha! 3-2! And you just keep talking at the press conference, dude. They are just p*ssies!"

Then, when asked by a fan whether he had elbowed Ramos for 'for Mohamed Salah', Lovren replied with a love heart emoji, hinting that this was the case.

When asked about Lovren’s comments ahead of Croatia’s Nations League decider with England on Sunday, coach Dalic confirmed he would be speaking to the former Southampton man.

"I will talk personally with Dejan, but that will stay between us and the squad. I don't want to talk publicly about this," he said.

Ramos was the player who clashed with Salah during the Champions League final in May, with the Egyptian ultimately being forced off with a shoulder injury.

The Real Madrid defender was forced to defend his actions after the game, denying he had deliberately set out to injure the Liverpool forward.

That did little to pacify Salah’s Liverpool’s teammates, who were left furious with what some felt was cynical and pre-meditated behaviour from the 32-year-old.

Lovren in particular has been critical of Ramos in the months since Liverpool’s defeat in Kiev.

In the build-up to Thursday’s game, Lovren claimed Ramos was overrated and the quality of his Real Madrid teammates masked any mistakes he made on the pitch.

Ramos refused to rise to the defender’s barb, but that didn’t stop Lovren continuing his criticism of the Real Madrid man after the game.

Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk also appeared to add more fuel to the fire when on Friday he said Ramos was neither the best defender, nor his favourite.

Ramos found himself on the scoresheet during Thursday’s match in Zagreb but two goals from Tin Jedvaj secured a famous 3-2 victory for Croatia.

As a result Croatia can win the group and qualify for next summer’s Nations League finals with a win over England at Wembley on Sunday.