Lovren on Bordeaux, LFC's confidence and returning to action

Dejan, with injuries etcetera at the moment, you’ve got a chance to really cement a first-team place on a regular basis. How determined are you to make the most of that?

Of course, it is always great to play in the first team, but we have so many quality players in the team and every player is important. Definitely, it is a great opportunity for me to play some more games than usual and I had a little injury a month ago. I am back now and feeling really, really satisfied, happy and confident - especially after the last game.

How much inspiration and confidence has the manager given you?

It is a great pleasure to play under Jürgen. We know what he achieved with Borussia Dortmund before, and he definitely has made big changes in the team. The most important thing, as he said, is that we needed to believe in ourselves. I think we have started to believe in ourselves - and I think we have seen in the last couple of games that we have.

You’ve had to bide your time to get back into the team, but is that all it is – belief – that has been instilled into this group of players?

One of the points is belief, but the other point is work – we need to work harder than before. When you put these two points together, the result at the end is a win.

How do you see the game shaping up against Bordeaux tomorrow?

We know it will definitely be a tough game. Bordeaux are a quality, quality team in the French league, but what is important for us is that we need to win if we want to be first in the group. We definitely expect a hard game, but I think especially after the last game against Man City, we have much more confidence in ourselves and hopefully we can repeat that game.

You’ve spoken about belief and the result at City – what does that win mean for the atmosphere going into this week and what does it change? Does it change more beating a team like City than maybe a lesser side?

After the game against Chelsea, we already felt we had the confidence and everything. Then we had the game against Crystal Palace - our 'black cat' I would say – but we never doubt ourselves, even after Crystal Palace. We had a good 10 days of preparation and we’ve been working hard and really well. We just showed our quality against Man City, we showed we can play against the big teams and that we want to be in the top four at the end of the season.

What are the challenges going to be in trying to reproduce the kind of form you showed on Saturday tomorrow because Bordeaux are likely to come and sit a bit deeper than Man City did. How will you approach it?

We need to approach every game the same. Of course, it will not be as intensive as Man City, but we respect everyone so we know it will be a tough game. Everything depends on us. We are professionals and we will do our job until the end. I think we are ready for that.