Wayne Rooney criticizes Virgil van Dijk for being “lazy” during a key moment in Liverpool’s loss to PSG.

Wayne Rooney had no doubt about which “lazy” Liverpool player was responsible for their Champions League exit: Virgil van Dijk.

Liverpool were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, despite holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg in France. At Anfield, Arne Slot’s side suffered defeat as Ousmane Dembele scored the decisive goal.

With neither team able to score in the remaining minutes or extra time, the match went to penalties, where Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed their spot-kicks.

However, Rooney believes Liverpool’s downfall began with Dembele’s goal and argued that Van Dijk could have done much more to prevent it. Speaking on Amazon Prime Video, the former Manchester United star said:

“This goal from Liverpool’s perspective is wrong in so many ways. They’re pressing, but Van Dijk gets lazy. If you watch him, he’s just walking and leaves a huge gap for Dembele. All he has to do is step across and cover, as there’s no other passing option for PSG, but he doesn’t.

“Dembele gets the ball in space, plays it wide, and then Konate doesn’t react quickly enough. Dembele makes a good run and taps it in.”

After the defeat, Van Dijk addressed Liverpool’s exit but chose to focus on the future, urging his teammates to move on and prepare for their upcoming Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.

“It’s part of football,” he said. “I told the guys, ‘Be disappointed, but keep your heads up.’ Now we have to get ready for the next challenge, which is a great one.

“I think we played well today. Of course, we wanted to go further, but we knew PSG would be a tough opponent. We saw in Paris how we struggled but still won, and today we played very well but are out.

“From the first whistle through extra time, when fatigue set in for both sides, the game became more open. We could analyze it all day, but the reality is we’re out.”