Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has responded to claims from Wayne Rooney that he was “lazy” for Paris Saint-Germain’s goal at Anfield in midweek.
The Reds are having a fantastic season in the Premier League with Arne Slot’s side moving 15 points clear of Arsenal – who have a game in hand – after Liverpool beat Southampton last weekend and the Gunners were held to a draw against Manchester United.
There had been outside noise of a potential Treble before they lost on penalties to PSG in midweek to exit the Champions League at the last-16 stage.
After their fortunate 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes the week before, Liverpool were stung by a first-half goal from Ousmane Dembele as the French side leveled up the tie.
There would be no more goals in the fixture with the match going all the way to spot-kicks and Rooney criticised Van Dijk for being “lazy” in the build up to PSG’s goal.
Speaking at half-time, Rooney said: “This goal from Liverpool’s point of view is wrong in so many different ways.
“They are trying to press the ball and van Dijk gets lazy. If you keep your eyes on van Dijk here, he is walking. He leaves a massive gap for Dembele.
“All he has to do is come across to Dembele because there is no other pass for Paris to get out but he doesn’t.
“Now Dembele has got a lot of space. And Konate again, he doesn’t switch on, Dembele makes a good run and it’s a tap in.”
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Responding to Rooney’s comments, Liverpool captain Van Dijk said: “Someone told me about this. I think at that particular moment I’m helping [Andy] Robertson, telling him to clear the outside, I take the inside. I’m even explaining now what I thought at that moment but if he thought it was lazy then he gave his opinion, that’s it. Did you think it was lazy?”
Van Dijk added: “But listen, I think I said it to someone as well, there were so many challenges that were years ago for those players and obviously it’s a challenge for the players nowadays that you have to deal with opinions here and there and it gets blown up all the time. But I think, looking at what I see in the dressing room, I think the boys are doing well in terms of keeping their heads down and focusing on the task ahead. That’s the most important thing I want to see.
“Even in difficult times, you know, because no-one’s going smooth sailing, especially if you’re in the Premier League. If we get the reward for it at the end of the season then I’m sure Liverpool is going to be bouncing.”
Van Dijk, along with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are out of contract at the end of the season and there is no concrete sign that any of the trio will sign new deals.
When asked about Van Dijk’s future on Friday, Slot said: “I don’t know what’s happening next season as well in terms of results but that is not what you mean.
“The only thing I know is that I want Virgil to be here next season.”
And now Van Dijk has given another update, he revealed: “Maybe I will run this fully down and then there is still no news, I don’t know. But I don’t want to create any anxiety or anything like that. I just keep my head down and focus on hopefully winning the next 10 games.”
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