Virgil Van Dijk has played down the impact of Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Napoli in their Champions League clash on Tuesday evening.
The Reds were looking good for a well earned point against the Italian side before a debatable penalty and a late strike in injury time by Fernando Llorente was enough to see the home side claim the three points.
But Van Dijk said the defeat which was only their second in a competitive fixture this campaign, was not a cause for worry.
The Liverpool Echo reported the defender as saying:
“It didn’t feel like a wake-up call, I think both sides were focused fully on the game, It felt like it was going to be a draw, and then the penalty changed everything in the game.
“It shouldn’t be a wake-up call - we have been performing since the start of the season outstanding, and so there is no reason to panic.
“And in the game as well, we played well, we put them under pressure, we created opportunities on the break.
“So there were a lot of positive things , the only thing not positive was the result.”
Van Dijk believed the final score was not a true reflection of the overall contest and the performance was full of merit.
He also believed the penalty awarded against Andy Robertson completely changed the outcome of the game.
“I think 2-0 didn’t really reflect the game.
“I think we were much better (than last season) we lost it (again), but we played well, we had opportunities on the break, we played in some moments.
“We felt comfortable, then they got the penalty which changed the game.”
“Lots of times you can say that it felt a little bit harsh, but the ref made the decision so you have to accept it.
“Everyone knows how tough it is to come here and beat them, first of all, but also to play well against them.
“But you could see we put them under a lot of pressure to try and win the ball quite a lot high up the pitch, and try to break on them.”
The Reds will look to return to winning ways when they play Chelsea at Stanford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
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