Dejan Lovren has followed up his Premier League title with Liverpool by clinching the Russian top-flight title as captain of Zenit St Petersburg, nine months after joining.
It was a quiet final campaign on Merseyside for Lovren, but 10 appearances in the Premier League earned him a winner’s medal come June.
A month later, and the Croatian was on the move, with Zenit agreeing a £10.9 million deal with Liverpool to end his six-year stay with the club – given the blessing of Jurgen Klopp.
He moved to play regular first-team football, and Lovren has enjoyed that in Russia, even inheriting the captaincy in November when Artem Dzyuba was stripped of the armband in November.
Injury has sidelined the 31-year-old in recent weeks, but he was part of the celebrations as Zenit sealed the Russian
It is the third top-flight trophy of Lovren’s career, and his second in consecutive seasons, and taking to Instagram after the game he said silverware vindicated his decision to move.
“Because of this I came to Zenit. My second trophy in the first season (Lovren won the Russian Super Cup in August),” he wrote.
“Congratulations to the whole team, the coaching staff and all the employees in the club.
“Dear fans thank you for your support throughout the season, you went on long journeys where temperatures were extremely low, and where we were not at our level, that shows how much you care about the club.”
Former team-mates such as Lucas Leiva, Alberto Moreno, Jordon Ibe and Jose Enrique were among those to praise Lovren, with private messages no doubt exchanged with current Liverpool players observing a social media boycott.
Zenit still have two games left to play before the end of the season, but won’t be able to exceed their 72-point tally from last term, with a maximum of 67 available.
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