Paul Robinson has warned Virgil van Dijk against a repeat of one defensive manoeuvre against Benfica’s Darwin Nunez during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over the Primeira Liga outfit.
The Dutchman was spotted putting his arm out against the Uruguayan, though escaped an unfortunate penalty call.
“Van Dijk takes a risk when he puts his arm out like that,” the former England No.1 told Football Insider.
“It is one of those that is a matter of opinion. VAR will never eliminate contentious decisions like that because it is subjective.
“If it is not given on the field it will not be given off it because it wasn’t a clear and obvious error. There was not enough there to overturn it.
“But if it was given on the field I think it would have stood. It is in that grey area.
“Van Dijk was definitely taking a risk though. I don’t think it was a penalty. It would have been soft but I have seen them given.”
With the Reds having conceded in the opening stages of the second-half via a mistake from Ibrahima Konate, a further goal conceded to level the tie could have handed the Eagles the necessary momentum to take the game into their own hands.
In light of the difficult fixtures remaining, we could certainly have ill afforded to heap further pressure on our remaining quarter final clash against the Portuguese outfit at Anfield.
That’s not to suggest that the second leg is done and dusted by any stretch of the understanding, though a 3-1 win to take home to Merseyside will no doubt be far more soothing on the nerves in a month that could quickly end our hopes of a historic quadruple.
In fairness to Van Dijk, we’ve rarely seen the Dutchman be the subject of any potential controversy in the box and we’d expect our No.4 to continue to play a decisive role in our efforts at racking up a significant trophy haul this term.
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