Dejan Lovren Is Being A Good Sport About Ross Barkley’s Horror Tackles

Liverpool beat Everton 3-1 in the 228th Merseyside Derby yesterday. While Everton had some good moments, the Reds mostly maintained control over the proceedings and were never in any real danger of losing.

The Toffees likely sensed it too, and, whether it was due to the tension of the occasion or simple desperation, they seemed to adopt an alternate definition of success at several points— if we can’t win we’ll try to send a few Reds to the hospital.

Ross Barkley in particular seemed bent on earning a visit from the Merseyside Police for some vicious tackles on various Liverpool players. Emre Can was an early victim and Dejan Lovren took a nasty hit that likely should’ve sent Barkley to the dressing room.

But while quite a few Liverpool fans are still steaming over Barkley’s tackles and the fact that he got away with it largely unpunished, one of his victims doesn’t seem to be bothered. Speaking to reporters after the match, Dejan Lovren seemed to brush it off as just part of the game.

“It's over. You can expect it in the derbies, things like this happen. There will be headlines about that, I will leave that with our manager. We saw it already. Last time there were some nasty tackles, it was this time also, but it's part of the game.”

Moving on from that, Lovren talked about his side’s chances for qualifying for the Champions League next season.

“We still have eight games left, we just need to be calm and take as many points as possible because the big sides are facing each other and we've already done that. Now it's on us.”

The defender also took a moment to praise his opponent, Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.

“Lukaku is a top striker. He's scored many goals this season and it's always quite tough to play against top strikers. We did a great job defending altogether, not just me, well done to everyone.”