Wayne Rooney took a sarcastic swipe at Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk after the Merseyside derby victory against Everton.
Van Dijk scored a dramatic late winner for the Reds' in the first derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, after Salah opened the scoring to help his side to a 2-1 victory, in what was the Egyptian's final game against the Toffees.
The pressure was on Arne Slot's side to deliver, with the manager under increasing pressure following the 4-0 aggregate defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
PSG booked their place in the semi-final with a 2-0 victory at Anfield in the second leg last week, following which Ibrahima Konate was on media duties.
The Frenchman has been under fire for his performances this season, with Jamie Carragher saying: "People have criticised Van Dijk for his performances this season, but I think it’s been harsh. He plays every game, and the fella next to him has been awful all season - and poor again tonight. Konate makes a mistake every game, so that’s not easy to play alongside."
However, Rooney has now admitted he felt sorry for Konate following the defeat against PSG, with the former Manchester United striker also taking a sarcastic swipe at Van Dijk and Salah for doing interviews after the Merseyside derby, but not being seen after the Champions League quarter-final.
"It was nice to see Van Dijk and Salah actually doing the interview after the game.
"I thought Konate got threw under the bus a little bit after the Champions League game. I don't think I've ever heard Konate do an interview, and he really struggled in his interview.
"In fairness to Van Dijk, he does a lot of interviews, and he normally does a lot, and we very rarely see Salah so it was nice to see them taking the plaudits."
What Salah said after matching Gerrard's record against Everton
Salah has now gone level with Steven Gerrard for goals in the Merseyside derby during the Premier League era, having scored nine, and the Egyptian king made it clear just how happy he is to have gone level with the legendary midfielder.
"It feels great, to be fair," he told Sky Sports. "The most important thing was to help the team to just settle down and keep more confidence, because we knew before the game it was going to be tricky, it was going to be a difficult game. I'm glad in the end we managed to win the game."
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After the European exit at the hands of PSG, Liverpool have little to play for other than qualifying for next season's Champions League, but a late victory in the first Merseyside derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium is particularly sweet.
Having scored three goals in his last four Premier League games, Salah is signing off in exactly the right manner, and he will be hoping to continue his impressive form against Crystal Palace at Anfield this weekend.
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