Liverpool lost 3-0 to Manchester City, with Virgil van Dijk lamenting the decision to snuff out a header as a controversial goal was conceded at a crucial moment.
Virgil van Dijk has claimed that Liverpool were denied a completely legitimate goal due to a controversial offside decision against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds captain headed home shortly after Erling Haaland broke the deadlock, but his celebrations were cut short by an offside flag as Andy Robertson was adjudged to be in an offside position and thwarted Gianluigi Donnarumma’s attempt to save the ball.
The Premier League confirmed that the goal was disallowed because Robertson was “deemed to have committed an obvious act in the presence of the goalkeeper”. However, Van Dijk made it clear that he did not agree with the decision, even if Josep Guardiola’s side deserved to win that day.
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“I don’t know who was on VAR, Michael Oliver? So I think the stadium officials and the couple behind the screen have to make the right decisions for the game,” the Dutch star said.
“Today it was decided that the goal didn’t stand because Andy Robertson got in Donnarumma’s way for some reason, but I think it should have stood. That’s all I can say. But I’m not the one making the decisions.”
“Do you think[the explanation]was that he just got in the way of the goalkeeper or something? But someone showed me footage of Man City scoring against Wolves last year and the referee at that time was also[Chris Kavanagh].
“I don’t know. I’ve already said too much, because the decision has been taken, so we lost 3-0, but in that sense we don’t make excuses. We lost 3-0. We have to take it on the chin and move on. It’s obviously a blow as hard as it is, but we have to keep going.”
Van Dijk and other Liverpool stars will link up with their respective national teams ahead of the international break, with Liverpool now eight points behind Arsenal after the weekend’s results.
The imposing defender admits there are lessons to be learned from their fifth defeat of the Premier League season, but insists no one is going to get carried away by the difference between the champions and Arsenal. He added, “We must not forget these results. If we forget these things, we will not grow. We must not always think only about the good.”
“We have to think about what went wrong today and how we can improve on that. We have to feel responsible for that, and I definitely feel that. What could we have done better? And take that into the next game.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason to get carried away. We played some difficult opponents this week, but we won two out of three, so we just have to keep going. It’s been a difficult season for many reasons so far, but I’m confident that we can turn this around.”
“It’s not going to happen overnight. We have to keep working and everyone needs to be healthy to continue to help us, so that’s the key for all of us in the dressing room.”
“It’s pointless for us to look at the standings, that’s all. I don’t think it means anything to us. If we lose as many games as we lost, I don’t think we can look at the standings at the moment, but I’ve been around the game for quite some time (to know) that the season isn’t decided in November or December.”
“March, April is when it starts to get really interesting how everything shapes up there. We want to get there, but the road is long and we have to put in a lot of effort.”
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