VIRGIL VAN DIJK HAS THEORY ON WHY LIVERPOOL COULDN'T CAPITALISE ON MOHAMED SALAH'S EARLY GOAL

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has claimed the Reds were too eager to try build on their early goal away at Atalanta on Thursday night.

The Reds gave themselves a mountain to climb during a dismal first-leg showing that saw them on the wrong end of a shock 3-0 scoreline. Mohamed Salah's seventh-minute penalty sparked hopes of another iconic Liverpool comeback victory in Europe, but it wasn't to be this time around.

Atalanta managed to keep the damage to just one goal and as a result, progressed to the last four stage via a 3-1 aggregate win. Van Dijk discussed his side's eagerness to try and chip away at the deficit early on in the game and how that may have in turn cost them.

Speaking to TNT Sports, the Dutchman claimed: "I think we tried [to get the second early], I think we had some opportunities as well.

"You know obviously, the 2-0 doesn't come and then there's still time, still time to do it and maybe at times we wanted it too quickly, everyone was obviously keen to get the second and eventually the third but overall it was a much better game than the one we played last week."

Though Liverpool have been dumped out of both the Europa League and the FA Cup within four weeks of each other, they can still win the Premier League. Some view it as unlikely, given the Reds are two points behind league leaders Manchester City with just six games to play, but Van Dijk remains optimistic.

Looking ahead to Sunday's game away at Fulham, the defender added: "Showing maturity, showing togetherness is the key to this and professionalism. We need to be ready for Sunday because today was a tough game, and Sunday will be very tough as well and we all know that.

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"Everyone has that responsibility to make sure they are ready for it physically and mentally. That is the aim now. Everyone feels disappointed, I feel disappointed, but we do not have a lot of time to be disappointed.

"Hopefully our fans will be there again, I have no doubt actually, but we need them more than ever for the last six games of the season where anything is still possible."

Following last Sunday's home league defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace, Van Dijk will be well aware the Reds cannot afford any more slip-ups.

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2024-04-19T06:30:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd