Virgil van Dijk hit back at Liverpool's critics after arguably their best performance of the season saw them beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday.
Alexis Mac Allister headed home the game's only goal in the second half as Arne Slot's men handed the La Liga leaders their first defeat of the season in Europe's elite competition.
Prior to a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, Liverpool had lost six of their previous seven games and gone 10 matches without a clean sheet. Madrid arrived in Merseyside in free-scoring form, but were limited to very few opportunities.
Liverpool's terrible form had drawn criticism from several pundits, including the former Everton, Manchester United and England forward Wayne Rooney, who had claimed Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah were letting the team down with poor leadership.
After Tuesday's win, Van Dijk joined pitchside pundits – including Rooney – and told them an emergency team meeting he had orchestrated had refocused minds, and also that their criticism had been “over the top”.
“It is easy to say now because we won twice in a row that [the meeting] helped pretty well, but in a world of chaos you have to try and stay calm and take perspective of things. In that meeting the time was October, so much football to be played, so many twists and turns that can happen and I think at times the noise was a lot.
“Of course, if you lose four or five games in a row as a Liverpool player then it is a fair criticism, that is absolutely normal in that sense. But I think it is over the top at times as well at that point, but that is because we live in a world with so many platforms and so many people can say stuff, it will be picked up and made bigger. I think it is good that ex-players who played at the highest level who dealt with difficult moments as well puts a lot in perspective.”
Addressing Rooney directly, Van Dijk added: “I think if you watched games then I would definitely take responsibility. I think the comment that I signed my new deal and then it was like 'that is it' and I let it slide, I think that was a bit … but that's my personal opinion and we move on.”
Arsenal lead Liverpool by seven points at the top of the Premier League and have also won their opening four Champions League games thanks to a run of eight consecutive clean sheets.
Liverpool face another huge test of their title defence on Sunday when Van Dijk faces Manchester City's unstoppable Erling Haaland, who has struck 26 times this season for club and country.
“You can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances,” added Van Dijk.
“We have the quality to hurt anyone on the break – it starts with the defending. Today you saw the hard work. We have to keep going. Sunday is going to be another difficult one.”
Liverpool battled from the start and kept Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois on his toes before Mac Allister finally broke the deadlock.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who was outstanding all night, sent in a beautiful free kick and the Argentine rose the highest to head home and send Anfield into raptures.
Liverpool manager Slot credited both the quality of the opposition and the passion of the Anfield crowd.
“Impressive because we played against an incredible side, a team that's on an unbelievable run of form, only lost once, won all their other games,” Slot said. “If you then can win against them and perform how we have, that's very positive.
“It’s been (some) tricky weeks for us, many away games, hardly any rest in between every single game. It helps if you can play in front of these fans and you can play in front of Real Madrid because I think that brings the best out of my players and out of our fans.
“A great performance … It could have been a bit more maybe.”
Bayern overpower PSG
Luis Diaz scored twice and was sent off as Bayern Munich maintained their perfect record this season with a statement 2-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in a match marred by an injury to Achraf Hakimi.
Diaz gave Bayern a fourth-minute lead at the Parc des Princes and pounced on slack defending to score again just after the half-hour mark.
However, the former Liverpool winger was shown a red card in first-half stoppage time following a rash challenge on Hakimi which forced PSG's Moroccan star off in tears.
Joao Neves pulled one back for PSG but Bayern held on despite playing the entire second half a man down.
Bayern's sensational start to the campaign has seen them win all 16 games in all competitions, including four in the Champions League – they are one of only two clubs with 12 points in Europe's elite competition alongside Arsenal.
Arsenal dominate
Mikel Merino's two second-half goals helped Arsenal to a 3-0 win at Slavia Prague. It was the Gunners' fourth win in as many games in the competition.
For the Premier League leaders, the result also constituted a 10th straight win in all competitions and an eighth consecutive clean sheet.
They have now scored 11 goals and conceded none in the Champions League so far as they maintained their perfect start.
“The most pleasing thing probably is not the record, it's the mindset of the players, they are talking there about how we can still do better,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The match also saw a moment of history as Arsenal's Max Dowman became the youngest-ever player in a Champions League game aged just 15 years and 308 days when he came on to the pitch in the 73rd minute.
