As rare as it is, Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk was at fault for Napoli’s second goal against Liverpool in the Champions League this week.
The Serie A outfit took the lead via a controversial penalty moments earlier, but played toe-to-toe with the Reds for the majority of the game.
It felt like it was shaping up to be a tight affair, maybe a 0-0 or a 1-1, and van Dijk agrees with that sentiment. “Everyone knows how tough it is to come here and beat them first of all,” he told the club’s official website.
“But also to play well against them and I think we, especially in the beginning at times, put them under a lot of pressure trying to win the ball high up the pitch and try to break on them.
“But at the end of the day it’s all about the result and we are unlucky we didn’t get any result.
“It felt like it was going to be a draw. There was some moments from us on the break where we could have done a bit better but the penalty changed it and we come home with no points.”
Big Virg points out the penalty as the turning point of the game, and I think he’s spot on. The Reds were only getting more intense as time went on – it was starting to look like we may nick it.
It was only when Jose Callejon dived following an Andy Robertson challenge, and earned his side a penalty kick, that things went against us.
That being said, travelling to the San Paolo is seemingly the most difficult trip we’ve got in the group stage this year – and we lost their last season, it doesn’t mean anything yet.