Liverpool's Lovren accuses Lukaku of deliberate kick to face

Lukaku's heel struck Lovren below his left eye after the Croatian's challenge on him before halftime and the Football Association backed referee Martin Atkinson's decision by taking no further action against Lukaku.

(Reuters)

"I made a tackle and felt he was over me and he could just have moved away," Lovren told a news conference ahead of Liverpool's Champions league game against Maribor in Slovenia.

"My honest view is that he did it on purpose. It was on the face.

"If he did it normally, you would apologise after that. I saw that he was nervous during the game so maybe that was the reason.

"That is what happens on a pitch. It is over. I cannot change it. It is what it is now. That's football."

Liverpool are third in Group E behind Sevilla and Spartak Moscow after two draws from their two games.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru)