Lovren injury a blow for Croatia and Lyon
Thursday, November 3, 2011
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Dejan Lovren will sit out both legs of Croatia's play-off against Turkey plus Olympique Lyonnais' vital UEFA Champions League showdown with AFC Ajax due to a knee injury.
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Croatia will be without one of their first-choice centre-backs for the UEFA EURO 2012 play-off against Turkey after Dejan Lovren damaged ligaments in his left knee on UEFA Champions League duty for Olympique Lyonnais last night.
Lovren went off the 38th minute of Lyon's 2-0 home defeat by Real Madrid CF and was in "terrible pain" as he spoke after the game. He said: "Doctors said nothing is broken but I'll know more after medical tests. I hope it's nothing serious. It wasn't a tackle, my knee just gave way. A week ago I felt some pain in that knee but I wanted to play. I thought it was nothing serious – I was wrong, I should have had a rest then."
Early estimates suggest the 22-year-old will be sidelined for a few weeks, ruling him out of the 11 and 15 November games against Turkey, with Maccabi Haifa FC central defender Jurica Buljat called up as his replacement.
Lovren will also be unavailable for the vital UEFA Champions League fixture against AFC Ajax on 22 November in France. Lyon trail the Dutch club by three points with two matches to play in Group D.
