Croatia great Lovren retires from international duty

The 33-year-old center back

has called time on his career with Croatia. Lovren, who played for Liverpool and Zenit before joining Lyon, announced on Thursday his intentions for retiring from the national team.

"I want to tell every single young football player in the country that they must look at the Croatian national team as a completely other dimension of football – look at these players as your superheroes.”

Lovren’s open letter about his retirement read.

"The most beautiful chapters of my national team story were the ones that we wrote during the past five years. This is, if I’m being honest, still a complete dream to me.

"So many emotions went through me, especially in 2018 and 2022, and I find it difficult to put these experiences into words.

"I lived my life in hope that I would get to experience moments like those and, when they did come, I lived them with immense pride. These memories will remain in my heart forever."

Lovren played for

78 times, earning his first cap in 2009. He was an important part of Dalic’s squad as Croatia ended up as runners-up in the 2018 World Cup. He represented Croatia in the 2022 World Cup as well, helping them finish third.

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