Two years on from leaving Liverpool after lifting their first league title in 30 years, Reds fans will no doubt have spotted a familiar face in Croatia's World Cup penalty shootout win over Japan.
With Luka Modric substituted before the shootout, Dejan Lovren took on the armband and led his side to a 3-1 victory as they booked their place in the quarter-finals in Qatar.
Here, in this piece from 2021, Lovren looks back on his time at Liverpool, and his departure from the club...
Dejan Lovren has lifted the lid on his relationship with Jurgen Klopp - and joked he ignored the Liverpool boss claiming he missed his former defender.
Lovren departed Anfield in 2020 having spent six years with the club during which he claimed European Cup and Premier League winner's medals.
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The 33-year-old centre-back has since won the Russian Super Cup and Premier League with Zenit St Petersburg, and is once again on a run with Croatia at the World Cup after they booked their place in the quarter-finals at Japan's expense.
And explaining his dealings with Klopp during an at times turbulent Reds career, Lovren said: "We had really fair communication.
"Naturally he was the manager and I was the player who should deliver what he was saying, so sometimes we didn't have talks in the best mood - especially when I had an injury and he wanted me.
"But we said goodbye to each other as friends. We said that whatever we needed, we could phone each other. It was a very good, open talk.
"Sometimes we still chat. Once he said that he was missing me in the team... but I didn't reply!"
Lovren added: "I believe it was meant to be to leave Liverpool last summer. I was also close to leaving the season before, but it just wasn't meant to happen.
"Leaving Liverpool was definitely not a mistake - I've already won two trophies in the my first season so I can only be proud."
Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine, Lovren also determined the infamous 4-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in October 2017 as a turning point in his Liverpool career.
"Let's just say when Klopp took me off after half an hour against Spurs, when we were 2-1 down," said the Croatia international.
"I was shocked, but that moment was decisive for me to change something in my mind and work even harder. From then, I was flying until the end of my stay at Liverpool.
"After that, of course, the trophies we won were big achievements. There's always something that ignites a little fire and that's when Liverpool's started burning.
"Nobody else would see that, but I'm looking at it from my way. From that moment on - and even Klopp knows it - I started to play well."
This story was originally published on June 2, 2021.
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