Virgil van Dijk praised the performance of Joe Gomez after the centre-back made his return to the starting line-up in Liverpool’s 4-3 win over RB Salzburg in the Champions League.
Gomez was called upon to fill in for the injured Joel Matip and the 22-year-old endured a difficult evening at Anfield as Salzburg staged a stunning comeback from three nil down to level the game.
Despite the poor defensive display from Liverpool, Van Dijk hailed his team-mate’s contribution.
‘It was good to be back alongside Joe,’ Van Dijk told The Athletic.
‘It had been a while since we played together so it’s bound to take some time again. We’re lucky to have four very good centre-backs here.
‘Dejan (Lovren) is also a good option and Joel should be back after the internationals, if not before.’
‘I just think (Liverpool) conceding the first goal gave them belief,’ Van Dijk continued.
‘We got sloppy as a unit and started giving the ball away.
‘They’re a very good team, pressing-wise, with lots of pace up front and they showed it in the second half. They caused us some problems but the goals could have been avoided.’
Liverpool were cruising at half-time after scoring three goals in the opening 36 minutes, but Salzburg pulled one back just before the interval.
Mohamed Salah popped up to score a 69th-minute winner for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp praised his side for coming back after Salzburg levelled the game.
He said: ‘It’s better to learn the lessons during the game than talk about it after it.
‘I thought we were outstanding in the first 30 minutes, then the Salzburg system changed and we lost the ball so that caused us problems.
‘The momentum changed and it was really difficult to get a foot in the game. We had to wait until they had scored the third goal, then we were able to strike back.
‘I’m not angry – I saw us play really well and try hard to get back into the game and score a really nice goal. You don’t need to score six or seven goals.
‘[Salzburg] are a good side but the first 30 minutes we made it really difficult for them and played outstanding.
‘I told the boys they want to enjoy the whole night and they will fight back.
‘This is group is really difficult but we wanted the three points and now it’s game on.’
The win over Salzburg is Liverpool’s first of their Champions League campaign and the Reds hopes of finishing first in the group were boosted before kick-off following Napoli’s goalless draw with Genk.
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from Football – Metro https://ift.tt/2puhBXc
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