Virgil van Dijk has admitted he reprimanded Liverpool teammate Alisson Becker after the goalkeeper’s mistake cost the Reds a clean sheet against Manchester United.
Alisson was at fault for Jesse Lingard’s equaliser that made it 1-1 at Anfield, but Liverpool took control in the second half and eased to a 3-1 victory.
Alisson’s Liverpool career so far? Five key things to know:
- After Loris Karius’ double error in the Champions League final, Jurgen Klopp responded by signing Alisson from Roma over the summer.
- Alisson made his first mistake in a Liverpool shirt with a failed Cruyff Turn in the 2-1 league victory at Leicester City.
- Other than that he has been near-perfect, bolstering his reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.
- On Sunday he spilled the ball at the feet of Lingard, who capitalised before Xherdan Shaqiri’s double won the game for Liverpool.
- The error was a blip in Alisson’s impressive start to life at Anfield; he has conceded just seven goals 17 league appearances.
After the match, Van Dijk told Liverpool’s official website he jokingly told Alisson off for failing to keep a clean sheet.
“I said to him, ‘We have no clean sheet because of you! Why did you ruin the clean sheet?’” Van Dijk said.
“I made a joke out of it. He’s been fantastic for us. It happens, everyone makes mistakes.
“You see it a lot… maybe I didn’t react as well as maybe I could have. It happens sometimes. We had to all bounce back and we did.
“It was very important to win. You could say it was just another game but it was a bit special because it was against them.
“It had been a long time since we beat them at home and it was well deserved.”
READ MORE: Squawka predicts: who will win the Champions League and which Premier League team will go furthest?
Can Alisson inspire Liverpool to the title?
There is an argument to be made that Liverpool would have finished last season with a trophy had they possessed a better goalkeeper.
Karius’ mistakes in the Champions League final handed Real Madrid the advantage and Liverpool ended the campaign with no silverware.
But the Reds are currently top of the Premier League thanks in no small part to the impact of Alisson.
The 26-year-old has kept 10 clean sheets in the league already this term, and Liverpool have looked unbeatable at times because of Alisson, and the strong defence in front of him.
Van Dijk, who arrived from Southampton in January, has also been a big part of the defensive improvement, but the Dutchman thinks it is too early to start talking about the title.
“We are in mid-December and the season is still too long,” he added.
“We are very happy we’re in the position that we’re in now but that can change in two or three weeks. We’ll try to keep on doing what we’re doing and stay confident.
“Wolves is another game we want to win. It’s going to be very tough there. They are in a great moment but so are we so we will have to prepare well and know their strengths and their weaknesses.”
The post Van Dijk admits telling Alisson off after Man Utd mistake appeared first on Squawka News.
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