Virgil van Dijk snaps back at Wayne Rooney after pundit blames Liverpool captain | Football | Sport
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has fired back at Wayne Rooney, labelling his criticism as ‘lazy’. Following Liverpool‘s 3-2 loss to Brentford, the Manchester United legend criticised Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah for their lack of leadership this season, linking it to their hefty contracts. Rooney stated: “This is a time when the manager and the leaders in the team need to figure it out very quickly. Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they have really led the team this season.”
However, after Salah netted his 250th goal for Liverpool and Van Dijk played a crucial role in securing a clean sheet in a 2-0 win against Aston Villa at Anfield, the Dutch defender hit back at Rooney. “I didn’t hear him last year,” Van Dijk retorted. “He’s obviously a legend, a big player of the game, inspired so many, I can say all the only positive things. But I feel that comment is just, I would say, a bit of a lazy criticism.”
Van Dijk’s response was particularly sharp, especially considering Rooney had previously labelled him as ‘lazy’ when Ousmane Dembele scored the sole goal in Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory at Anfield in March.
Addressing Rooney’s role as a pundit – following an unsuccessful stint in management – Van Dijk added: “You have to do that job as well, so it is what it is. It’s quite impossible when everyone, like I said, has an opinion and we have to deal with it.
“And there are no hard feelings, by the way. I don’t take it personal whatsoever. It’s easy to blame the older players but he (Rooney) knows obviously as well as everyone else that we do it together. We try to help each other to try to get out of this and, like I said, last year when things go well, you don’t hear that at all.”
Rooney hasn’t been the sole pundit to take aim at Van Dijk, who, alongside Salah, penned a fresh two-year contract near the conclusion of last campaign. However, the Anfield captain revealed he has managed to cope with the intense examination.
He elaborated: “There are so many platforms nowadays that everyone can say whatever they like. and get blown up. So, we have to stick together – focus on the task ahead, winning games.
“That’s the only thing we can control. And it’s not easy to do that for everyone, but for me, I’m mature enough and I have a very stable life that I will be able to do so.”
Following their breakthrough in halting a four-match Premier League losing streak, Liverpool now shift their focus to Tuesday’s encounter with Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Van Dijk stated: “We tried to go after Frankfurt (Liverpool beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 before the loss at Brentford) and it didn’t work out that well.
“But there’s another opportunity on Tuesday and that’s how you have to see it. There’s an opportunity to perform, to win a game against a very good opponent.
“I think it was just a good performance (against Villa). But it was just a win and now we move on. We know there’s still a lot of work to do and now it’s time to recover and focus on a very big game.”
