"The psychological aspect is the most difficult to overcome. I work out on my own as much as I can, I kick the ball around a bit with my son on our lawn, but training with the team is totally different"
Saturday 2 May 2020 11:47, UK
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren admits he has struggled with the psychological impact of the coronavirus lockdown and says players will need time to "recover mentally" from quarantine.
While some Premier League clubs have reopened their training facilities under strict conditions, Liverpool's squad remain at home with individual programmes and no date has been set for their return to Melwood.
Lovren admits he has missed working alongside with his team-mates and is looking forward to a return to full training.
"It hasn't been easy as we have been locked up in our homes for 46 days now," Lovren told Croatian newspaper Sportske Novisti.
"The psychological aspect is the most difficult to overcome. I work out on my own as much as I can, I kick the ball around a bit with my son on our lawn, but training with the team is totally different."
The Croatia international admits it is difficult to get excited by his training regime in lockdown.
"I try to stay motivated any way I can. I get up in the morning and tell myself 'I am going to get knackered in training today' and at least I've managed to lose some weight," added Lovren.
"But I've also lost some mass on my legs because there is no substitute for a 90-minute team training session. You can't do an indoor exercise on your legs for 90 minutes."
The Premier League met on Friday to discuss 'Project Restart' and a possible return to competitive action in June, should it be deemed safe and given government approval.
Lovren is keen to see the season completed in full, with Liverpool 25 points clear at the top of the table, but says players will need enough time to rest between games after a long period without competitive action.
"I hope Aleksander Ceferin and all the other people from UEFA and FIFA will come up with a solution so that we don't get into a situation of having to play 15 games in 30 days," he added.
"We need time off. This hasn't really been time off because the players will need to recover mentally from the pandemic and the resultant quarantine."
