Dejan Lovren, leader of the Croatian defense who will face Argentina on Tuesday December 13, is the only footballer who will play in the semi-finals of the World Cup who plays in Russia, a country excluded from Qatar 2022 due to the conflict in Ukraine.

Lovren, 33, plays for Zenit Saint Petersburg, the great dominator of Russian football, where he arrived in 2020 after six successful seasons at Liverpool, a team with which he won the Premier League and the Champions League .

The player raised at Dinamo Zagreb, who was already a finalist at Russia 2018, where he lost to France, He has started in all the matches of this World Cup.

While in Russia his dance partner was Domagoj Vida, his partner behind is now young Josko Gvardiol, only 20 years old.

The Croatian defense received only three goals in Qatar: one against Canada (4-1) in the first phase, another in the round of 16 against Japan (1-1) and that of Neymar in the quarter-finals.

Zenit did not hesitate to publish on its website a photo of the central defender after the quarter-final match against Brazil, which was decided in a penalty shootout.

And it is that Lovren did not hesitate to criticize the exclusion of Russia from the World Cup because of the military campaign in Ukraine.

“I am outraged that Russia is not participating in the World Cup. I have always said that sport and politics must be separated. Even if that’s the case (that Russia invaded Ukraine), Russia still should have received permission to participate in the World Cup,” he said.

The Russian team, led by Valeri Karpin, was unable to play in the World Cup play-off against Poland in Moscow in March, due to the start of fighting in February.

Unlike other footballers, including several Poles, Lovren did not leave the Russian league after the start of the Russian military intervention in the neighboring country.

The other footballer who plays in Russia and also played in the World Cup is the Cameroonian Moumi Ngamaleu (Dinamo Moscow).

Moumi, a 28-year-old midfielder, has played two games in this World Cup, although only one as a starter, in the historic win over Brazil.