UEFA have banned Croatia defender Dejan Lovren for one international match over comments he made on social media about Spain.
Lovren posted a video on Instagram bragging about elbowing Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, and also made other insulting comments about the Spaniard, following Croatia’s 3-2 Nations League defeat of La Roja in November.
Lovren went on to say via a live stream post: “Haha! 3-2! Go ahead and talk now buddy. Buddy! They are a bunch of p******”.
Despite Ramos scoring from the penalty spot, Croatia secured a victory which set up a decisive match against England at Wembley in the race to reach the Nations League finals.
And it was Gareth Southgate’s side who prevailed 2-1 to reach the last four of the competition, with the semi-finals and final to be played in Portugal this summer.
UEFA said Lovren had fallen foul of a clause in its disciplinary rules which penalises anyone “whose conduct is insulting or otherwise violates the basic rules of decent conduct”.
He will now miss Croatia’s Euro 2020 qualifier at home to Azerbaijan in March.
The pair had been feuding since the Champions League final, when Ramos earned the ire of Liverpool’s players and supporters for a clash with Mohamed Salah that forced the Egypt star to be taken off injured within the opening 25 minutes.
Lovren has since questioned Ramos’ ability, claiming he is made to look better than he actually is by team-mate Raphael Varane, before suggesting he himself was one of the best defenders in the world.
Ramos responded in measured fashion in the pre-match press conference.
“I’m not going to answer Lovren or whoever wants to win three front pages or start the news bulletin,” he said.
“Everyone wins things for himself on the pitch.”
Lovren is unlikely to be fit for Liverpool’s trip to Brighton on Saturday following a hamstring injury suffered in the FA Cup defeat to Wolves earlier this week.
