The biggest problem is my back.

I always try to be better than yesterday.

I'm my biggest critic of myself when I make mistakes.

Maybe there is some regret with how I left Southampton.

This is Liverpool, we will always come back when it's tough.

Not many players played in a World Cup and Champions League final.

Some moments I feel sad, some moments I'm happy. Overall, I'm proud.

I had a great time at Southampton and will always be thankful for that.

It's an honour, of course, to play against the biggest players in the world.

In football you can never know. You relax and in one second it causes pressure.

People always catch you on mistakes and they don't look at the good things you do.

If you want to be at the top, you need to have the winning mentality and the calmness.

At Liverpool, when warmed up, we enter the game or after 15 minutes go back to the bench.

I had better offers financially but from the first day I said I want to come to Liverpool.

Without being arrogant, I think I have proved I am one of the best defenders in the world.

We know how in football everything changes quickly. It doesn't take too long to lose one game.

I've achieved big things that would not be possible had I not been at such a big club as Liverpool.

Maybe if I had signed for Chelsea I'd just have been sitting on the bench and what is the point in that?

But Liverpool is a big club, and expectations are high, so it is normal that you are going to be criticised.

Where would I go from Liverpool? It is one of the biggest clubs in the world and I am too happy here to move.

There is too much said about me but this is what gets me more motivated to work harder and prove everyone wrong.

I don't know one player who doesn't make a mistake, especially a defender and especially how we play at Liverpool.

I have big problems with the left side of my body. I'm taking pills so I can play. I take five pills before every game.

I think people should recognise that I'm one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense, I will say.

One of the biggest challenge for me is when you have Mo Salah and Sadio Mane at the training ground. Then you know where you are.

When I was playing good, nobody was saying I was playing good. When I was playing bad, I would be the first one on the front of the journal.

When you go 18 games unbeaten people will say 'wow he's really good' but when you make mistakes they will point the finger at the back four.

There are teams spending a lot of money and buying top players from all over the world but it is not about money - it is about your team-mates.

I am professional, won a Champions League, silver at the World Cup, I achieved big things in football and don't deserve to go anywhere on loan.

My mum was working in Walmart for €350 per month, about £280. My father was working as a house painter. We had a difficult situation with money.

For Croatians it means everything to play for the national team. Because of the past. A lot of people died in the war. It's like a duty for us to give everything.

My mum said: 'Germany is our second home' and it's true. Germany gave us their open hands. I don't know which country could have done that, at that time, to welcome refugees from Bosnia.

I am giving my best to have a quiet life but sometimes it doesn't depend on myself because people just want to come into my home and steal some things, even though I have nothing in my home.

I made the wrong decision many times. Sometimes I can accept it, sometimes not because football is like that. But in the end it depends on yourself and whether you are ready to move on or not.

If my little girl wants a toy or something, sometimes I say, 'I don't have the money'. It's quite difficult to understand why I'm saying that, but she needs to understand that nothing comes easy.

I feel relief after the transfer window is closed. I got tired of reading and listening every day about me leaving or staying at Liverpool. Everyone wrote 'Dejan is here, Dejan is there,' and they knew nothing!

I remember my dad took my ice skates. One day I asked my mum: 'Where are my ice skates?' because I loved to skate in the winter. And she said through tears: 'Dad is selling them now… we don't have money for this week.'

I never expected that I would be somebody. I just started playing and when I was 12, 13, thought: 'Wow, I'm playing good.' Then Dinamo Zagreb were speaking about signing me, I thought: 'Hmm, maybe I can achieve something.'

I had the luck with Germany. If they hadn't allowed us to come in I don't know where we would've gone or where we could go. I never ask about that. My mum said: 'Germany is our second home' and it's true. Germany gave us their open hands.

I agree with Klopp, the Nations League is a ridiculous competition. There is no sense in playing these games. It's not a real competition that you have to win. You can call these games whatever you want, but the fact is they are friendly games!

I was German-speaking, and I arrived 10 years old to Croatia, and really wasn't speaking a lot at home with my parents in Croatian, so it was really difficult to write in Croatian. It took me two years after I went back to learn everything again in Croatian.

Share This Page