Dejan Lovren will unquestionably go down as one of the most peculiar players of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool tenure.
Between signing on the dotted lines of his first Reds contract in July 2014 and partaking in mandatory Melwood lean to departing the club six years later, the Croat's time on Merseyside was far from a dull one.
But on Tuesday evening, the defender will head to Lusail Iconic Stadium ready to battle it out with Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez as the Vatreni look to reach their second successive World Cup final.
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Having suffered heartbreak at the 2018 final - where a certain Kylian Mbappe announced himself on the world stage as he became the youngest goalscorer in a World Cup final since Pele as the then 18-year-old Frenchman scored in the 4-2 thrashing of Croatia - the Zenit St Petersburg defender is out for revenge.
While the odds of Lovren and his team-mates lining up in the showpiece final at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Sunday evening appear slim, the 33-year-old has adopted a mentality of defying the odds throughout both his life and 16-year professional career within the game.
Born in the Bosnian city of Zenica, Lovren was forced to flee the war-torn country at the age of just three years old as his parents, Sasa and Silva, took their family to Germany in an attempt to seek refuge during the Bosnian War between 1992 to 1995.
“Of course, I have spoken to my parents about what happened a few times because it is natural that you will want to know more but when I ask my mum she starts to cry," said Lovren of his upbringing, during an interview in 2016. "It isn't easy for her.
“It is harder for me to understand because I was only a child but her emotions tell me everything that I need to know about how difficult this time was for her and for us as a family."
Such were the difficulties of his childhood and upbringing, it is remarkable to think of the success he has relished in his career thus far; a Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, Ligue 1, Coup de France and two-time Russian Premier League winner just to name a few of the accolades he has acquired.
Having spent his immediate childhood years seeking refuge in the German city of Munich, Lovren and his family were forced to relocate seven years later after their yearly request visa application was rebuffed. Lovren, aged just 10, was tasked with having to reassemble his life once again - many hundreds of miles away from his native Bosnia.
This time it would be in the Croatian city of Karlovac that the Lovrens would be able to call home for the latter years of their childhood. It was here where he would get his first break in the game as he signed with NK Karlovac, an amateur football side in within the city. It was while playing at the Stadion Branko Cavlovic-Cavlek stadium that he would earn a move to one of the country's most successful sides, Dinamo Zagreb.
After impressing in Zagreb, where he was handed his international debut by manager Slaven Bilic in his final season, Lovren attracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur. However, he eventually decided on a move to the French top flight as he penned terms on a four-year deal at Lyon.
Yet, he would not see out his time in the southeast of France as just three years after signing for the club he was on his way to the Premier League, as a move to Southampton beckoned. Despite just one season under Mauricio Pochettino, Lovren was part of an eye-catching Saints side that included Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Jose Fonte and Rickie Lambert.
During their first season back in the Premier League after their promotion from the Championship in May 2012, the Saints had established themselves as an attacking outfit that wasn't afraid of going toe-to-toe with some of the league's biggest names.
"After three-and-a-half years in France, it was a dream to play in the Premier League," said Lovren after sealing his £8.5m switch to Saint Mary's. "Now the dream has come true.
"I've spoken a lot with the chairman and the coach, and this is a great project. They told me a lot of positive things, and I know the history of the club. It's a big club and I'm very happy that I can be a part of it.
"I have it in my mind to do something big, and I see the same thing in the club. We are a young team, and I am a young player also so I hope I will stay here for a long time."
In his first season in England, Lovren helped Southampton secure an impressive eighth-place finish in the Premier League. He would score his first goal for the club, ironically, at Anfield in September 2013 as Pochettino's side landed a chink in the armour of Brendan Rodgers' title-chasers thanks to a historic 1-0 victory on Merseyside.
Rodgers' men, despite an abundance of strikes from Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling, would concede 50 Premier League goals that season as the likes of Kolo Toure, Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson and Aly Cissokho failed to keep their end of the bargain at the opposite end of the pitch.
It meant that after losing the 31-goal Suarez to Barcelona in the summer, Lovren was highlighted by the transfer committee as a player who would be able to shore up Liverpool's defence the following season as they looked to balance the absence of the Uruguayan's goals for the first time in three-and-a-half seasons.
His exit from St Mary's though would be far from harmonious as he refused to turn up for the club's pre-season training in July 2014, in a bid to push through a move to Liverpool after Southampton had rejected two bids.
Later that month, Lovren would get the outcome all parties had desired as he was granted permission to head to West Derby to complete the £20million move to Liverpool. It sparked perhaps one of the strangest Anfield careers in recent memory.
A debut season at Anfield was a far from ideal one for Lovren, who was thrust straight into the limelight by his Northern Irish manager. If a new season was expected to harvest different results, it was very much more of the same for Liverpool who were exposed for having a soft underbelly in defence again.
The Croat was quickly singled out by supporters as a poor piece of business, along with many of the class of 2014 who were tasked with replacing Suarez in some capacity, as a low-on confidence conceded 16 goals in his first 11 Premier League outings.
However, following the sacking of Rodgers in October 2015, after a 1-1- draw with Everton at Goodison Park, Klopp would be handed the reigns on Merseyside and it would result in an upturn of Lovren's performances at Anfield even if it not immediately.
Despite watching his 15/16 season plagued with injury, it was a campaign that would mark Lovren's greatest moment during his six years at the club. In April 2016, as Liverpool chased a late, late aggregate winner against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-finals, the Reds' No.6 rose highest deep into stoppage time, at the Kop End, to head home James Milner's cross.
After earning a respectable 1-1 draw in Germany seven days before the Anfield return, Klopp's men found themselves 2-0 and 3-1 down during the home leg and faced the reality of being dumped out of the competition. Eventually, it would be Mamadou Sakho and Lovren - after earlier goals from Divock Origi and Philippe Coutinho - that would become the unlikeliest of Anfield heroes.
“There are a lot of emotions when you score in front of the Kop,” said Lovren, reflecting on the goal in 2020. “You saw the eruption.
"You’re proud of the team and what we did until the last moment; we were losing 3-2 in the last 15 minutes and we changed it so quickly.
“When I scored, I wanted to jump out of my skin, to be honest, that’s why I jumped and landed on my backside! I didn’t feel anything… if I did this now, I think I would have pain in all my back! The difference is the emotion."
While he would play a key role in Klopp's side qualifying for their first Champions League campaign in three years as they clinched a fourth place on the final day of the 2016/17 season, it would be later that year he would endure the most haunting personal episode of his Liverpool career.
Losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in October 2017, Lovren - in a rash attempt to play the ball - would launch himself at a looping ball over the top. However, he would mistime his effort, leaving Harry Kane racing through on goal with Heung Min Son to his left.
The captain would unselfishly tee up his team-mate and Spurs would have their much-craved two-goal advantage. The Reds' No.6 cut a dejected figure on the hallowed turf of Wembley as Simon Mignolet picked the ball out of his goal, but Lovren's agony would quickly increase as he was immediately hooked by Klopp.
"I really don't want to blame players,” said Klopp after the 4-1 defeat, in defence of Lovren. “Dejan, to be honest, was not worse than Joel.
“We had to change something and we had to try to make sure we were a little bit more stabilised. We needed another protection in the half space - it actually didn't work too well, but that was the idea behind it.”
From that moment on, it felt like his time on Merseyside was running out as Liverpool were in a process of reconfiguring their defence options. It would be less than two months after Lovren's awkward withdrawal that the Reds would sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for a former £75m fee.
But after injuries to Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, it was the Croat who found himself partnering Van Dijk as the Reds entered the business end of the season, with their first Champions League final appearance in 11 years. Although Klopp's men would cave to defeat in Kyiv after an error-strewn individual display from goalkeeper Loris Karius, Lovren would depart the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium with his stock at an all-time high as expertly controlled Cristiano Ronaldo and claimed an assist for the Reds' only goal in the 3-1 defeat.
It was just two months later that Lovren would lead his nation into the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup after a 2-1 victory over England and demand more respect for his accomplishments.
"It's something special for me," after Zlatko Dalic's side toppled the Three Lions. "From my point of view, people were saying I had a difficult season but I don't agree with that.
"I showed that I took Liverpool to the Champions League final and now with my national team we are in the final. I think people should recognise that I'm one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense I will say."
Although he and his team-mates would be brushed aside by a rampant France side in the Moscow final, Lovren would win the Champions League and Premier League in his final two years at Anfield.
It was upon celebrating the club's first Premier League title in July 2020 that he would be embroiled in further controversy as he went against Liverpool's protocols and instead attended Anfield just hours after Manchester City had been defeated by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Klopp had arranged for players and staff to congregate at Formby Hall Golf resort to enjoy a social night, while adhering to the current Covid-19 guidelines, in the event that they could celebrate their league title success together if the Londoners could take points off Pep Guardiola's men and secure their triumph.
However, after partying in a private function room at the resort, Lovren revealed how he headed to Anfield - where thousands of fans had gathered - to mark the end of the Reds' 30-year wait for a league title.
"They told us, 'Guys, don't go to the stadium because we will have problems, we cannot keep you safe'," recalled Lovren later in 2020. "I said to myself, 'it's 12 o'clock, it's too early to sleep. I will take the car and I'll go to Anfield, just to experience this.'
"I drove myself there, my God. Tens of thousands of people celebrating. I just wanted to feel this emotion because we didn't have a good celebration in the stadium. I needed to do it, and I was really happy that I did it."
Lovren was a constant - and controversial - voice during the pandemic and recently issued his support from Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic in January of this year after he was denied entry into Australia due to not having taken any form of vaccination.
The Croat would depart Anfield later that summer as he sealed a switch to Russian Premier League side Zenit St Petersburg for a fee of £11m. It was a transfer that would evoke emotion from the usually quiet Mohamed Salah, who Lovren had struck up a close friendship with during the pair's time on Merseyside.
“I don’t know how to say, my friend. You don’t know my feeling right now. We’re really going to miss you a lot, especially me,” said Salah. “You’ve been an unbelievable player and a great friend for me. We’re going to miss you a lot. I miss you a lot, I love you so much. You’ve been fantastic outside the field and inside the field.
“So, thank you for everything you did for the club, thank you for everything you did for me. I wish you all the best in the future and I wish you to have a great career as well, enjoying the new club with your family.
“Thank you very much and see you soon.”
While Lovren had his critics during his time at Anfield and those who would have been happy to see him depart the club, there is no doubt that the former Anfield man disproved many of the slurs about his talents.
On Tuesday he will bid to reach the second World Cup final of what has been a truly staggering career.
The boy from Bosnia will lead a nation smaller than Yorkshire into battle with one of the most gifted footballers of all time. But if Lovren's life to date has proved anything, don't write him off just yet.
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