Van Dijk has explained why he sorted Sokratis out in HT tunnel

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Virgil van Dijk has described the situation that saw him come to Mo Salah’s rescue at half-time during Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition of Arsenal.

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LFC fans love what Van Dijk did to Sokratis in half-time tunnel

Gunners defender Sokratis had given away a penalty at the end of the first 45 minutes, after fouling our Egyptian not once, but twice. Feeling likely embarrassed, the Greek defender complained incessantly that Salah had dived and started having a prolonged go at the 26-year-old while walking into the tunnel.

Sticking up for his team-mate, van Dijk came over and told Sokratis where to go, in no uncertain terms.

“I saw that he went to Mo [Salah] and was saying that he dived. He was attacking him a bit, but I wanted to say he didn’t dive,” he told the Evening Standard.

“Obviously everyone came around us and it looked like we were fighting or something but we weren’t. I just wanted to talk to him. But that happens in football and we move on.

“I’m protecting my teammates and that’s normal, that’s how everyone should react and that’s what we all need to do, to back each other. That’s what I definitely do.”

We actually loved the moment, especially as club captain Jordan Henderson got off the bench to join in, along with Gini Wijnaldum.

It shows how tightly knit our squad is and how many leaders we have amongst the group as well.

All will need to be unified and together for the trip to the Etihad in four days’ time, of course.

Liverpool take on Manchester City in what’s going to be a massive game in seeing who will win the Premier League title.

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