Dejan Lovren says he had to start from scratch at Liverpool after losing his starting spot.

The Croatian struggled with injuries during the 2018/19 campaign, playing in just 18 games in all competitions.

Lovren returned to the starting line-up recently, and he admits it wasn't easy.

"I started from zero again to prove that I deserve to be in the first XI but that's football," he told Sky Sports.

"When you've been out for months in the last season and didn't have so many minutes on the pitch, it's about restarting. In pre-season, I did hard work behind the scenes and again, maybe it didn't start as well as I thought it would, but I've been speaking with the manager, been patient and sometimes it's easy to say that but not to do.

"I did it in the end and everything came back... It's good to feel that you're important here again and this is what matters for every player."