If he held out any hope of winning over Liverpool supporters, Lazar Markovic has been going about it the wrong way.
Markovic provoked a furious reaction from Reds fans this week when he was seen liking a tweet on the night of Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Red Star Belgrade.
Jurgen Klopp’s side fell to a 2-0 defeat to Red Star in Serbia, leaving their chances of qualification to the knockout stage hanging in the balance.
Markovic’s social media activity on Tuesday raised several eyebrows as supporters noticed that the out-of-favour winger had liked a tweet from YouTube star David Vujanic which consisted of several Serbian flags with a heart in the middle.
At first glance, it looked like Markovic was celebrating his own club’s struggles but the 24-year-old has responded to the criticism with an attempt to explain himself.
Markovic tweeted late on Wednesday night clarifying that it was nothing more than a case of bad timing because being a former Partizan Belgrade player, he would never enjoy a Red Star victory and particularly not if it came against Liverpool.
Dear people , I made "like" to the picture with serbian flags. Im an ex Partizan Belgrade player and big supporter. As such obviously I couldn’t jump around celebrating Red Star Belgrade winning the match. Specially not against @LFC . Thank you all!
— Lazar Marković (@LMarkec50) November 7, 2018
Markovic looked destined to leave Anfield in the summer and was close to finalising a permanent move to Anderlecht after spending the second half of last season on loan with the Belgian side and even travelled to Brussels on deadline to put the finishing touches to the deal.
A fee of £2.9 million had been agreed between the clubs but at the eleventh hour, Markovic had a change of heart and decided to return to Liverpool, where he is now in the final year of his contract.
The Serbian winger has been training and playing with the club’s U23 side in recent months but his days on Merseyside are clearly numbered.
It looks like something of an inevitability that Markovic will either leave in January for even less than £2.9 million or for free next summer.
