Dejan Lovren has praised Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah after forming a strong friendship with the Egyptian star.

Former Chelsea winger Salah moved to Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017, and quickly earned his status as one of the stars of the Premier League with 32 goals in his first season back in England.

The 'Egyptian King' has become a firm fan favourite at Anfield - a feeling that former Southampton and Lyon defender Lovren can relate to after forming a close bond with Salah.

The pair regularly poke fun at each other across social media - arguing about restaurant bills in Marbella and coffee orders - but Lovren says their friendship is rooted as much in their respective humble beginnings in life as it is in the trappings of elite football.

"From day one, we felt this connection," Lovren told Copa90. "We have been talking a lot, we were talking about private things and we have a similar background, a tough life from the beginning.

"It wasn't easy to grow up where he was in Egypt without anything, and I had a similar thing in Croatia with the war and going back to Germany.

"And then with his normality, how he can talk to you and when you see how he thinks... we are good friends, coffee, jokes!"