Virgil van Dijk has shot back in response to the harsh criticism of his and Liverpool’s defending during their shocking 5-2 Champions League loss to Real Madrid in the first leg of the round of 16. With goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in the first 15 minutes, Jurgen Klopp’s team appeared to be on track to revenge their loss in the last season’s final.
Yet Real Madrid, the reigning champions, came back with a devastating exhibition of attacking football and precise finishing that made the second leg all but meaningless after their three goal advantage which was achieved through an emphatic 5-2 win. While players like Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema deservedly received praise, Real’s rambunctious attackers benefited from the kind of giving defence that has come to characterise a Liverpool campaign that is likely to be confined to battling for a top-four Premier League spot.
We are not robots – Virgil van Dijk hits back at staunch criticism
The embarrassing loss was bound to draw in harsh criticism for Liverpool, in particular for their defenders. Virgil van Dijk was singled out for some rash words by ex-Reds’ defender Jamie Carragher, who was brutal in his assessment of Liverpool’s defence. It was indeed a sight to forget for the former centre-back who even claimed that he could replace Van Dijk in that Liverpool defense. Carragher told CBS Sports:
“To lose that second half three-nil, you’re attacking the Kop, it’s 2-2, knockout game… as I said, absolutely shambolic from Liverpool. And what I’m talking about in terms of being shambolic, I’m talking about defensively shambolic all season. It’s not acceptable watching this season.
“We keep looking for reasons and excuses, but no, it’s nowhere near good enough. What makes me laugh, I’m not that bothered but Virgil van Dijk said I wouldn’t get in that back four about two months ago – I think I’d take his place at the moment!”
However, the Dutchman claimed that mistakes were unavoidable and that he and his colleagues should not be treated like robots. Virgil van Dijk said:
“Losing is never good and the way we lost today to almost not giving ourselves a chance in Madrid is tough. We played against Real Madrid, holders of the Champions League, quality players all over the team they can punish you and mistakes you make. Mistakes happen we are not robots and unfortunately it is the case. The only thing we can do is learn from it and focus on the next one to make sure it doesn’t happen.
“Don’t panic, obviously don’t be happy we lost, that’s how it should be but we have to recover now and focus on Crystal Palace. You play football also with your head but obviously it’s a football thing, you make mistakes and they punish you and that’s the case. Obviously they have the quality, they are one of the biggest clubs in the world and they punish you, that’s what they did to us today.
“We have almost an impossible job in Madrid in three weeks time but when the time is right we’ll focus and we will give everything and represent the club as best as we can. Until then we will try to keep improving and focus on Crystal Palace of course.”
With Vinicius Junior scoring a brilliant opening goal and then making Joe Gomez and Alisson Becker pay for a terrible defensive error to double his account, Liverpool saw their 2-0 advantage vanish before the half time. Eder Militao outran his marker during a training ground set-piece to score from an acrobatic header. Karim Benzema added two more to give Madrid a commanding 5-2 aggregate lead going into the second leg which will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu on 16 March.