A rare calamity from Virgil van Dijk gifted Villarreal an early lead against Liverpool at Anfield tonight, and the veteran defender immediately recognised that he’d erred badly.
Along with summer arrival Jeremy Jacquet, the Dutchman had been enjoying a strong start to the season under Andoni Iraola, but the captain had a moment that he’d rather forget inside the first four minutes against the LaLiga side.
Van Dijk culpable of costly error for Villarreal goal
After a long ball was sent towards the Reds’ penalty area, the 35-year-old attempted to head it back to Alisson Becker, but he badly misjudged the trajectory and inadvertently gifted possession to Georges Mikautadze.
The Villarreal striker took a couple of touches to set himself before rolling the ball into the far corner of the net, leaving the home fans in stunned silence and Van Dijk instantly raising his hand in apology over his costly error.
Sky Sports pundit Jobi McAnuff remarked that the Liverpool captain had a ‘nightmare start’, while The Athletic’s Gregg Evans posted on X that the 35-year-old was enduring a ‘very, very strange start’, having earlier gotten away with another misjudgement.
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Van Dijk error sets the tone for nightmare first half
Van Dijk’s world-class credentials have long since been proven, but this was one of his worst errors in almost nine years of playing for Liverpool.
You’d expect any defender at Champions League level to be aware of their surroundings and not gift an opponent such an easy goal, never mind one of the best centre-backs of his generation.
It wasn’t just our number 4 who endured a shocking first half tonight, either. When Villarreal doubled their lead just before the half-hour through Sergi Cardona, he had acres of room into which to run and slide a simple finish past Alisson.
Van Dijk’s early calamity set the tone for what has been an utterly atrocious opening half-hour from Liverpool, with the honourable exception of Rio Ngumoha, the one player who’s causing the opposition problems with his electric dribbling.
At the time of writing, we can only hope that Iraola gives his team a rocket inside the dressing room at half-time before this gets even worse for the Reds.
You can see Van Dijk’s reaction to his early error below, via @primevideosport on X:
A moment to forget for Virgil van Dijk 😨
Georges Mikautadze takes full advantage to give Villarreal the lead at Anfield 🟡⚽️ pic.twitter.com/3JTl00UwYa
— Prime Video Sport UK (@primevideosport) October 20, 2026