Under-fire Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren has reacted with anger after an Instagram user threatened to murder his family.
Lovren went on social media yesterday to share the Instagram private message sent to him by a fan - who supposedly supports Liverpool - threatening to “murder his family”. The 28-year-old branded the threat “disgusting”, the BBC reports.
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“I don’t mind when people talk s*** about me, it says more about them,” wrote Lovren. “[But] I cannot ignore when my family is threatened. I just can’t and won’t accept that.”
Lovren is not the first footballer to receive threats on social media - and he is unlikely to be the last, says Football365.com. After signing for Manchester City from Liverpool, Raheem Sterling was told his “daughter would be hunted down and locked up”. Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy says he regularly gets death threats and messages wishing his children harm.
According to the latest annual study by Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion organisation, social media and online abuse is on the rise in the sport.
Roisin Wood, the organisation’s chief executive officer, told The Week that there had been 197 reported social media incidents in the 2016-17 season.
“Social media is quite a significant area of discrimination,” said Wood. “We are trying to push both Twitter and Facebook, the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service], police and the clubs to take this as seriously as it’s taken in the stadium.
“Social media is a hard animal to master. We are pushing hard to say, ‘You wouldn’t let it go on in your stadium, so don’t let it go on online.”
Following the abuse sent to Lovren, says the Daily Mirror, many Liverpool fans have pledged their support for the defender and are campaigning for him to be the club’s latest player of the month.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp did not comment publicly about the threat made to Lovren, but was set to meet the defender privately.
Meanwhile, Lovren is still recovering from a thigh strain he suffered prior to the Huddersfield match and may miss Liverpool’s home clash against NK Maribor in the Champions League tonight.