The Liverpool centre-back might’ve been too honest last night.
Ruud Gullit believes that Virgil van Dijk’s honesty cost Liverpool last night.
The Reds were held to a 1-1 draw by Napoli at Anfield in the Champions League.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side earned a 1-0 lead at the break thanks to Dries Mertens brilliant half-volley from an acute angle, but the build-up to the goal marred in controversy.
There were two VAR checks to establish the legality of the goal – one for a potential offside, and the other for a possible foul on Van Dijk.
Mertens, with his eyes on the Liverpool defender instead of the ball, appeared to elbow Van Dijk in the hip as the Dutch centre-back immediately winced in pain.
Seconds later, the Belgian attacker fired past Alisson.
And a fired-up Gullit believes that Van Dijk should’ve gone to ground to flag the foul instead of trying to play on.
He told BeIN Sport: “People ask why you go to the ground, and now you know why. You have to go down in order to get the attention it deserves. Don’t go ‘Oh you have to stay on your feet’. No. This is what happens.”
Would the referee have blown up had Van Dijk gone to ground? We’ll never know, but Gullit is right in saying that it’s needed to flag up incidents which otherwise go unnoticed.
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