Lovren given one-match international ban after Ramos social feud escalated

Croatia defender Dejan Lovren has been banned for one international match over comments he made on social media about Spain and Sergio Ramos following his side's 3-2 UEFA Nations League win in November.

Lovren posted a video on Instagram where he appeared to brag about elbowing Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos and made insulting comments about the Spain team following the game on March 15.

He also told reporters after the match that Spain were "rude on the pitch" and bad losers.

UEFA said that Lovren had fallen foul of a clause in its disciplinary rules which penalises anyone "whose conduct is insulting or otherwise violates the basic rules of decent conduct."

He was suspended from Croatia's next UEFA competition match, which is the Euro 2020 qualifier at home to Azerbaijan in March.

Despite the win, Croatia would go on to finish bottom of Group A4 after losing their final game to England and were relegated to League B of UEFA's new competition.

After Lovren posted the video Ramos liked a photo on Instagram which showed him holding the Champions League trophy, with Lovren to the side in tears following May's final in which Real Madrid beat Liverpool.

There has been bad blood between Liverpool and Ramos since that final in Kiev, where Ramos was involved in the tussle that forced Mohamed Salah off injured and delivered the blow that gave Loris Karius a concussion.

Lovren spoke about Ramos earlier in November in an interview where he claimed the Real Madrid captain makes a lot of mistakes, in the latest of a number of incidents of bad feeling between Liverpool players and Ramos.