Virgil van Dijk admits qualification to the Champions League will have a huge impact on what Liverpool are able to do in this summer's transfer window
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 3: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool at Molineux on March 3, 2026 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images)(Image: Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Virgil van Dijk accepts failure to qualify for the Champions League will have a detrimental impact on what Liverpool are able to do in this summer's transfer window.
And the Reds skipper also said Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to rock-bottom Wolves - which was their ninth defeat the campaign - was unacceptable as the team suffered a damaging result in their efforts to secure qualification to next season's European Cup.
After a largely incident-free first period, Wolves scored with their first shot on target with 12 minutes remaining when Rodrigo Gomes clipped over Alisson Becker.
Mohamed Salah registered his first league goal since November 1 shortly after to set up a grandstand finish but it was Rob Edwards' relegation-threatened hosts who picked up just their third win of the term, thanks to Andre Trindade's 93rd-minute effort, which deflected via substitute Joe Gomez.
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It leaves Liverpool in fifth ahead of Aston Villa's visit from Chelsea on Wednesday night and Van Dijk knows how important qualification to the lucrative Champions League is to the club's aims of rebuilding the squad in the transfer window.
"One hundred per cent [it will have impact]," Van Dijk conceded. "The stakes are very high. Listen, if you play for Liverpool, it's always been like that. It's down to us, together with our fans, to get the results we need to get into the Champions League.
"We're also still playing in the Champions League and the FA Cup this season and trying to make it successful. Now the decisive period starts. We have to just go for it. We have to take this on the chin. No matter how hard it is to take.
"Either we get it and we deserve it or we don't get it and we don't deserve it. We have to go through our difficulties to get consistency. It's part of the process of this team. Everyone wants to win.
"Tonight was disappointing and poor. The standards we've set over the past few weeks, especially in terms of defending as a unit, tonight it wasn't good enough, especially in the last 10 minutes. Before that we were solid. But at the end we were too eager to score the winner and then it opened up massively.
"Of course, with all due respect it's Wolves away, You score the equaliser and you feel like you've got the momentum to push on. But we just weren't good enough tonight, especially in that sense.
"We had opportunities to hurt them on the break but we couldn't find the last pass. That was the reality to me."
Van Dijk also revealed that Slot was visibly angry at half time after an insipid 45 minutes where the visitors failed to create anything of note against a side who have lost 20 of their 30 games played this term.
"Yeah he was angry," Van Dijk said. "Of course. He had every right because we played poorly.
"That was already the case in the first half. Second half maybe there was more urgency but it still wasn't good enough. He had every right to be angry.
"We have to pretty quickly turn this into full focus on Friday. That's our responsibility physically and mentally.
"Four [wins in a row before this defeat] was decent. Four good results in difficult games. With the season that we're having, I don't think there was a lot of optimism in that sense.
"But we found a way to win, to defend well, and to score from set-pieces. Tonight we lost and that's all down to ourselves. It's very disappointing. It's down to us to learn from it and turn it around but it's tough for us to take and it's tough for our fans to take.
"We have to keep going. We come back here on Friday and we want to go far in the FA Cup. So we have to turn up here on Friday with a totally different quality and different performance on the pitch."
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