Jermaine Pennant critical of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk after Barcelona defeat

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Liverpool will still be hoping to reach the Champions League final for the second season running.

Jermaine Pennant has rinsed Virgil van Dijk for the manner in which he defended during Liverpool 3-0 Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona on Wednesday night at the Nou Camp.

The former Premier League player stated that Van Dijk should have ‘read the game better’ when the Spanish giants scored their second goal of the game, especially for a player that has just won the PFA’s Player of the Year award.

Lionel Messi started the attack by running at Liverpool two centre-back before playing a through ball to Luis Suarez. Both Joel Matip and Van Dijk didn’t pick up Suarez’s run whose shot hit the post before the little magician slotted home.

Speaking to the Debate on Sky Sports Premier League (02/05/2019 10:15 pm), former Anfield winger Pennant explained what Van Dijk did wrong during that goal.

“Well, if you are getting PFA Player of the Year, you are expected to read the game a little bit better,” Pennant told the Debate. “You don’t know what’s going through his head. Maybe he thought Matip was going to get there first and he kind of backed off.

“He should have seen Suarez running off his left shoulder and followed that run because Matip is blocking that ball. So, if anything goes in front of him, Virgil should have been covering and following Suarez. As I said, it’s the Nou Camp, it’s the moment. It’s the semi-final of the Champions League and he let him go and got him punished.”

Truthfully, Jurgen Klopp’s side will feel hard done by because the 3-0 scoreline is very harsh on the manner in which they performed during the game.

The Merseyside club created numerous chances but just could find the back of the net. Instead, they were punished by a Messi-inspired Barcelona, with the Argentine scoring a stunning free-kick late on.

It is a tough ask for Liverpool to progress through to the final of the Champions League now, but they will still fancy themselves at Anfield for the reverse leg.