Dejan Lovren hails Wijnaldum, 'massive' City win and fans
The sight of Georginio Wijnaldum rising high to power home an unstoppable header against Manchester City came as something of a pleasant surprise to Dejan Lovren.
Liverpool defeated City 1-0 at Anfield on Saturday night to ensure they ended 2016 on a high and in second place in the Premier League.
Wijnaldum was the man who got the all-important goal in the eighth minute, as he thumped a downward header from Adam Lallana’s superb delivery beyond Claudio Bravo and into the bottom corner of the Anfield Road end net.
The Dutchman has established himself as a vital component in Jürgen Klopp’s midfield since his summer move from Newcastle United but, with this effort being reminiscent of a seasoned centre-forward, Lovren admitted to being slightly taken aback by his teammate’s aerial prowess.
“Oh yeah, I was surprised!” the smiling centre-back told Liverpoolfc.com, when asked about Wijnaldum’s winner.
“Gini is more like a player who will shoot with his feet than score like that, but I was surprised with a nice header and we got the three points.”
The win represents Liverpool’s fourth consecutive Premier League victory, and keeps them six points behind Chelsea as well as four clear of third-placed City.
And Lovren believes the result is right up there with the Reds’ biggest successes of the season so far.
“It’s a massive win for us, I think for all the fans it’s important to finish 2016 well and especially against a top team,” the Croatia international added.
“I would say it was a brilliant game from us, we didn’t allow them to play, pressed high and deserved the three points.”
LFCTV GO: Lovren discusses Gini's goal and City win
Klopp’s side had to dig deep in the second half as Pep Guardiola’s City pressed forward in search of an equaliser that never came, and Lovren paid tribute to the Anfield crowd for helping the team through a testing 45 minutes.
“We knew that they have top players, individuals who can change the game whenever they want, but it’s never just the defenders, it’s the team that defends well and we played brilliantly,” he continued.
“We knew that our fans are our 12th man, we’ve played so many times here. It was tough in the second half, they played well, they kept the ball and were just waiting for the opportunity. But here, with this crowd, it’s really tough [for the opposition] to win and take the three points.”
On the task of catching Chelsea, who recorded their 13th consecutive top-flight victory earlier on New Year’s Eve, Lovren said: “We don’t need to look who is in front of us, who is behind us, the most important thing is how we do and we’re doing quite well for now so let’s continue like that.”