Wayne Rooney has admitted his criticism of Virgil van Dijk was “unfair” after an awkward encounter between the pair following Liverpool’s 1–0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Reds sealed a huge win over the 15-time winners of European football’s most prestigious club competition, courtesy of Alexis Mac Allister’s bullet header in the second half.
It was a much improved performance from Liverpool, who had been criticised from all angles after losing six games from seven played across all competitions. One of those to call out the Reds was Rooney, who said Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah had not “really led the team” and that their “body language is not right”—something that had then gone to affect their teammates.
Van Dijk bit back, saying Rooney’s analysis was “lazy criticism,” and the two were then thrust together in front of the Amazon Prime TV cameras when the centre back came out to complete media duties instead of the anticipated Dominik Szoboszlai.
After exchanging views on the night, Rooney has now accepted that he’d overstepped the mark when critiquing Van Dijk, but said it was natural for the champions to be questioned when performances levels drop.
