Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk faced Manchester United hero Wayne Rooney in an awkward TV interview after the Merseyside giants defeated Real Madrid in the Champions League. Rooney has criticized the Reds captain in recent weeks, with Liverpool struggling to maintain their form in the opening games of the season.
Liverpool were at their best on Tuesday night with a fantastic performance to beat Real Madrid at Anfield. Alexis Mac Allister scored the only goal of the game just after the hour mark, with a header from Dominik Szoboszlai. And if it wasn’t for Real keeper Thibaut Courtois, who made a series of fine saves, the home team would have won by an even bigger margin.
After Liverpool’s defeat at Brentford last month, Rooney questioned Van Dijk’s body language, explaining:
“Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they signed new contracts, but I don’t think they really led the team this season.”
After Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, manager Van Dijk criticized Rooney’s comments, calling him “lazy”.
And the Liverpool defender gave an interview to Amazon Prime shortly after his team’s win over Madrid, and some of Rooney’s recent comments were featured in the discussion.
“It’s easy to say (we’re doing well) now because we’ve won two in a row. In a world of turmoil, you have to stay calm and keep things in perspective. There’s a lot of football to be played and there can be twists and turns. There was a lot of noise at times,” the Dutch representative explained.
Van Dijk was asked by presenter Gabby Logan if he was “looking at someone in particular”.
And the centre-back added: “No, no, not at all. I think it’s very important to keep things in perspective, keep our head down and work on the situation, because our quality is not the problem we have.”
“It’s always going to be big, but I think it’s important that the top players, the players who have played at the top, who have also dealt with a lot of difficult moments, put things into perspective.
“Of course (the criticism was fair), but when you’re a Liverpool player and you’re losing four or five games in a row, that’s a fair criticism.
“In that sense, it’s quite normal, but I think it’s sometimes overdone. But that’s because we live in a world with so many platforms, so many people can say something.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Rooney said with a laugh. “I think I inspired them and led them to consecutive wins.”
And after Rooney explained his interpretation, Van Dijk told the former United forward: “If you watch the game, you’ll see that I’m in charge. I thought it was a little off-putting to say that I’m fine because I signed a new contract…but that’s just my personal opinion.”
