Van Dijk: No reason for Liverpool to panic

Virgil van Dijk insisted there was no reason for Liverpool to panic after their Champions League loss to Napoli on Tuesday.

Liverpool’s six-match winning run was ended with a 2-0 defeat in the Group E encounter at Stadio San Paolo, where Dries Mertens’ penalty and Fernando Llorente’s goal were enough for Napoli.

Ahead of a trip to Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, Van Dijk said the European champions would not overreact to their loss.

“I don’t know if it’s a wake-up call,” the star defender told UK newspapers.

“Both sides were full in the game and thought it was going to be a draw. Obviously the penalty changed it all and we’re going home with no points but it shouldn’t be a wake-up call.

“We’ve been performing since the start of the season outstanding so there’s no reason for panic. The majority in the game we played well, we put them under pressure and we created opportunities on the break.

“There’s a lot of positive things apart from the result. We have to try to win our other games and we now focus on Chelsea.”

Full-time in Naples.

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 17, 2019

Liverpool squandered numerous good chances in Naples before the hosts broke through after Andy Robertson was harshly adjudged to have fouled Jose Callejon in the area.

Van Dijk believes Jurgen Klopp’s men were set to earn a point before the spot-kick was awarded.

“It happens, it’s football. Things happen like that. Sometimes you wish in the end something different, or you pick the other pass instead of the right pass. It’s always like that sometimes,” he said.

“We had moments in the game we could’ve done better. If the penalty wasn’t there I think it was going to be a draw. The reality is we conceded the penalty and unlucky that Adrian is unable to save it.”