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Dejan Lovren has withdrawn from Croatia's squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers with an abdominal injury to leave Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers potentially short of centre-back options.
Lovren, 25, was due to play for Niko Kovac's side in the ties against Bulgaria on Friday and Azerbaijan on Monday.
However, the defender, who has been replaced by Panathinaikos' Gordon Schildenfeld, sustained the problem while training with Croatia and has been ruled out of both games as a result.
"During training on Wednesday, Lovren felt pain in the abdominal wall. Igor Boric [a specialist] at St Catherine [Hospital] showed there was a tear and he will not be ready for performances in Sofia [Bulgaria] and Osijek [Croatia],'' read a statement on the Croatian Football Federation's official website.
Gordon Schildenfeld will replace injured Dejan Lovren in Croatian squad for @EuroQualifiers. Good luck with recovery to @DejanLovrenLFC6
- HNS | CFF (@HNS_CFF) October 9, 2014
Lovren is set to return to Merseyside in the next couple of days, where he will undergo further assessment by the medical team at Liverpool's Melwood training ground.
Press Association Sport reports the Reds have had contact with the Croatia national team, but until their own staff have examined the defender they cannot make a diagnosis on the injury.
Liverpool have 10 days before their next match and if Lovren's injury is only minor then it may actually benefit them to have him back early to prepare for the trip to Queens Park Rangers.
It is the second successive month that the club have had players injured on international duty.
Brendan Rodgers has publicly expressed his displeasure at England's handling of striker Daniel Sturridge, who sustained a thigh injury in training which has caused him to miss the last seven matches.
Last month, Rodgers also lost Joe Allen, who injured a knee while with Wales, and fellow midfielder Emre Can, who has been sidelined since picking up an ankle injury in the latter stages of Germany under-21s' 8-0 win over Romania.
Rodgers is confident Sturridge will be fit for the trip to QPR but Lovren's problem, coupled with a thigh injury to Mamadou Sakho sustained in training, means his only two fit central defenders are Martin Skrtel -- currently with Slovakia for matches against Spain and Belarus -- and Kolo Toure.