Dejan Lovren becomes final Liverpool player to book 2018 World Cup place

November 13, 2017
Jack Lusby

Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren helped Croatia to a 4-1 aggregate victory over Greece to secure qualification for the World Cup in 2018.

Lovren played the full 90 minutes in both legs as Zlatko Dalic’s side sealed their place in Russia, winning 4-1 in the first leg and then drawing 0-0 on Sunday.

The 28-year-old is now likely to join the Croatia squad for next year’s tournament, having battled his way back into the fold after issues with former manager Ante Cacic.

And Lovren will be among a host of Liverpool players at the World Cup, having become the last to qualify.

Nathaniel Clyne, Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge and even Dominic Solanke could all be in contention for Gareth Southgate’s England.

Both Simon Mignolet and Divock Origi will be hopeful of keeping their places in the Belgium squad.

Alberto Moreno has an outside chance of making the Spain squad after his call-up this month, and both Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino will be in Tite’s plans for Brazil.

After 28 years without a World Cup, Egypt will make their way to Russia lifted by the heroics of Mohamed Salah.

And Senegal, whose last involvement came in 2002, will also take part, with Sadio Mane likely to be Aliou Cisse’s key players at the tournament.

Emre Can should be part of the Germany squad, though he may have already departed the Reds, with both Borussia Dortmund and Juventus interested in signing the midfielder on a free transfer.

Elsewhere, Marko Grujic received his first call-up to the Serbia senior squad since 2014 for this month’s friendlies against China and South Korea, and could be involved at the World Cup.

However Estonia, Scotland and the Netherlands failed to qualify, ensuring Ragnar Klavan, Andrew Robertson and Georginio Wijnaldum will have the summer off.

Joel Matip and James Milner have retired from international duty, while Loris Karius is yet to force his way into the Germany squad, nor Danny Ings for England.

The U17 and U19 European Championships will be held in May and July respectively, meaning a host of Liverpool’s youngsters could also be in action over the summer.

But there are no U20 or U21 tournaments, meaning the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ovie Ejaria, Harry Wilson and Ryan Kent should be out of action.