Virgil van Dijk ‘frustrated and guilty’ in explosive interview as Bournemouth winner re-analysed vs Liverpool
Jamie Redknapp was correct in his analysis against Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool conceded a last-gasp winner against Bournemouth.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Van Dijk had no leg to stand on when complaining about the Cherries’ goal at the Vitality Stadium.
Hackett does not believe Michael Salisbury is fit to referee in the Premier League, but the official had quite the performance as Andoni Iraola pulled off a shock 3-2 win on Saturday, 24 January.
Despite Antoine Semenyo joining Man City, Evanilson, Alex Jimenez, and Amine Adli chipped in with goals, the latter’s being the most important after a late equaliser from Dominik Szoboszlai.
Virgil van Dijk claims to have been fouled in Bournemouth’s winner
Although four minutes were added at the very end, Bournemouth took advantage of slack defending five minutes past normal time, sending the Vitality Stadium into absolute meltdown.
The Cherries had won just one of their last 13 Premier League games before taking on the Reds, but thanks to Adli, they secured all three points to move up to 13th in the table.
Having already played his role in Evanilson’s opener, Van Dijk was more than furious with the referee and VAR, claiming that he had been fouled in the build-up to Adli’s dramatic winner.
However, upon watching replays, Redknapp noticed that the club captain had actually tripped over the leg of one of his own teammates, and Hackett commended his detective skills on live television.
Jamie Redknapp is ‘spot-on’ as Liverpool captain left frustrated
Hackett, exclusively speaking to Football Insider on The Final Whistle, said: “I think he was frustrated by the fact that he was guilty for the first goal, not defending it well.
“That’s where his frustrations came in, and the referee was spot on. I want to praise Jamie Redknapp because it was one of the better analyses that we’ve seen. He got it spot-on.”
While it was only the Reds’ first defeat in 14 games across all competitions, the result meant that they fell out of the top-five spots in the Premier League, so emotions will be high.
Van Dijk has also come under a lot of scrutiny for his defending this season, so he clearly felt the need to defend himself. Sadly, it just came across as him having a guilty conscience.