Ex-Liverpool star Dejan Lovren elbowed Sergio Ramos in 2018 as revenge for injuring Mo Salah

Former Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren has admitted he deliberately elbowed Sergio Ramos in 2018 in revenge after the Spanish defender injured Mo Salah in the Champions League final against Real Madrid. 

Ramos has faced the wrath of Liverpool supporters for the challenge that forced the Egyptian off the pitch before beating Jurgen Klopp’s men 4-1 in the same year, and Lovren says it was ‘time to pay’ when he played against him for Croatia.

Lovren, who is close friends with the Liverpool forward, was seen teasing Ramos as he celebrated in a clip on Instagram after the 3-2 win over Spain in the Nations League: ‘Haha. 3-2. Go ahead and talk now buddy. Buddy! They [Spain] are a bunch of p******.’

The Real Madrid defender forced Salah off in the 2018 Champion League final against the Reds

The Spaniard has faced the wrath of many Liverpool supporters for hauling the Egyptian down

And now he has revealed his elbow on Ramos during the game was intentional – and told Ramos: ‘We’re even now’. 

‘I deliberately hit Ramos after hurting Salah? Yes, this is possible,’ he told Egyptian TV channel Sada El Balad.

‘Luka Modric tried to reduce the tension between me and Ramos, and we were facing Spain together with the Croatian national team, and I deliberately hit him with my elbows and told him that we have drawn now.

Lovren elbowed Ramos intentionally during Croatia’s 3-2 win over Spain in the same year

The defender was seen celebrating wildly in the dressing room after beating Spain

‘I respect Ramos as a player and what he does for his team. He has won a lot of titles, but on the other hand, he does some behaviour that I do not like and harm the players.’

Lovren, who now plays for Zenit St Petersburg, insists he believes Ramos’ challenge on Salah – which saw him hauled to the ground during the first half an hour – was intentional. He feels Liverpool had a chance of beating Los Blancos had he stayed on the pitch, with Zinedine Zidane’s men racing to victory shortly after. 

‘I do not want to make a big story, but I think that what Ramos did was intentional to injure my friend, so it was time to pay for what he has done,’ he added.

Lovren believes Liverpool could have beaten Madrid if Salah had not gone off injured 

‘We were playing much better than Real Madrid before Salah was injured in the Champions League final.

‘His exit was a big blow for us, after his exit, they began to dominate the match.’

Lovren and Salah have always been close during their time together at Anfield, and even with the pair separated there was still some banter between them last week. 

The Egyptian teased his old team-mate by claiming he ‘wasn’t missed’ and he had a new best friend in Kostas Tsimikas – who has just joined from Olympiakos.

The pair have enjoyed a close friendship throughout their time together at Liverpool 

But when Lovren’s departure was confirmed in July Salah was more kind – saying: ‘I don’t know how to say, my friend. You don’t know my feeling right now. We’re really going to miss you a lot, especially me.’

The emotional Croatian returned the compliment during his exit interview, but said his friendship with Salah was only at the beginning.

‘I don’t want to show too many emotions because I’ve already been crying before the last game. They saw that I felt the emotions.

‘Especially also leaving Mo, my good friend. It was something special but like I always said, it’s just the beginning of a big friendship, even when we’ll be far apart.’