Dejan Lovren is the latest victim of the international injury bug, which has afflicted Liverpool this season.
Lovren, 25, suffered a groin injury while practicing with Croatia’s national team Wednesday. The central defender withdrew from international duty and returned to Liverpool for further assessment.
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The Croatian federation didn’t specify Lovren’s ailment, but Liverpool FC confirmed that Lovren suffered a groin injury, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Lovren definitely will miss Croatia’s UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers against Bulgaria (on Friday) and Azerbaijan (Monday). It’s unknown at this point how the injury will affect his participation in Liverpool’s upcoming games.
Liverpool returns to action on Oct. 19 when it visits Queens Park Rangers in a Premier League game. Liverpool then hosts Real Madrid on Oct. 22 in the UEFA Champions League, Hull City in the Premier League on Oct. 25 and Swansea City in the League Cup on Oct. 28.
Liverpool currently has only two healthy, senior central defenders — Kolo Toure and Martin Skrtel. Lovren joins Mamadou Sakho on Liverpool’s list of injured center backs.
Liverpool lost the services of Daniel Sturridge, Emre Can and Joe Allen during the September international break. The Reds wanted to emerge from October’s interval unscathed, but Lovren’s injury dashed those hopes.
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Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/The Associated Press
