Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk shrugs off the “lazy” tag from failed manager Wayne Rooney as an irrelevant opinion. Rooney called Van Dijk lazy for failing to stop Ousmane Dembele from scoring the goal for Paris Saint-Germain against the Reds.
PSG eventually eliminated Liverpool from the Champions League tie by winning in penalties after a dominant extra-time performance from them. Liverpool boss, Arne Slot, can take the loss as a learning curve as his project at Merseyside is just beginning.
The French club won many duels during the two-legged tie and enjoyed athletic superiority with high-paced forward in their attack. Meanwhile, the Reds’ attackers lacked the same threat, particularly in the first leg, which added more pressure for their defenders.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has played a pivotal role for Arne Slot this season.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has played a pivotal role for Arne Slot this season.
Nevertheless, Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate delivered a fantastic performance along with Alisson Becker, bailing their team out numerous times. However, PSG scored the goal at Anfield after Konate stopped a threatening diagonal ball aimed towards Dembele within the box.
Konate’s interception, unfortunately, landed perfectly for an incredibly fast Dembele to make a simple tap-in and provide an equalizing goal. Somehow, former Manchester United and Everton player, Rooney, considered Van Dijk as the defender to blame for that unlucky goal.
Responding to the question about the criticism from Rooney (via The Times), Van Dijk shrugged off the “lazy” claim, believing that the trophies he will potentially achieve with Liverpool will be a perfect response to irrelevant opinions about him. He said:
“Someone told me about this. I think at that particular moment I’m helping [Andrew] 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 [Rooney] thought it was lazy then he gave his opinion. That’s it. There were so many challenges 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. Looking at what I see in the dressing room, 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. 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.”
Rooney has never hidden the fact that he hates Liverpool, and it is clear that the bias clouds his judgment. Furthermore, the former United forward is not a great analyst, as his record as the football manager would show. Rooney managed four different clubs so far in his managerial career, boasting an embarrassing 25.98-win rate.
Liverpool will face Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday with the hopes of winning back-to-back trophies. Van Dijk helped the Reds win the Carabao Cup last season against Chelsea after scoring a late extra time goal.
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The 33-year-old continues to shine as the centre-back, living up to his supporters’ claim of being arguably the best defender of this era.