Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren says media criticism only acts as inspiration for him.

Ahead of the Champions League final against Real Madrid, Lovren goes to Kiev full of confidence.

"Your words," he says, specifying the media rather than an individual. "Your words. When people say I am not good enough, I will just show you I am good enough. It is as simple as that.

"I like when people talk bad about me. When I have the confidence of the manager, I don't need anything to reassure me any more. Of course you have one or two situations where you don't play well, but which defender doesn't make mistakes? Sometimes people make it bigger than it is. But it is how it is with me.

"I struggled a lot in my life from day one and, you know, there is belief within me. It will never go.

"People would mock me at school. As a teenager, they said 'you cannot play like a defender'. People said I didn't have a left foot, that I wasn't quick enough.

"You know what? All these small things, they push me. I don't have a left foot? I will hit better today with my left foot than my right. I always work on these situations.

"It helps me to be honest. And criticism, even if I don't like it, I like it to hear — I know what to improve at the end."