Liverpool\u2019s captain has left supporters stunned after a highly controversial moment early in their Champions League showdown with PSV.<\/p>\n
Virgil van Dijk caused major confusion among fans just minutes into Wednesday night\u2019s match, as the Reds attempted to recover from their dismal 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. With pressure mounting and Liverpool sitting 12th in the Premier League, the Dutch side\u2019s visit was seen as a crucial chance to steady the ship.<\/p>\n
However, the evening began in disastrous fashion for the skipper. Van Dijk made a costly mistake almost immediately, sparking widespread disbelief. While defending a cross into the box, he lifted his arm to protest to referee Alejandro Hernandez, insisting his shirt had been pulled. In doing so, the ball struck his raised hand \u2014 leaving the referee with little choice but to award PSV a penalty inside the opening five minutes.<\/p>\n
Former Spurs star Ivan Perisic made no mistake from the spot, putting the visitors ahead.<\/p>\n
Fans reacted sharply on social media. One wrote: \u201cThat was the dumbest penalty ever conceded. Virgil Van Dijk, what are we doing?\u201d Another claimed: \u201cVan Dijk throwing the game within 5 minutes.\u201d A third added: \u201cVan Dijk is furious, but he should be furious with himself. What was he thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool did respond quickly, with Dominik Szoboszlai levelling the score 11 minutes later after tapping in a rebound from a Cody Gakpo effort saved by Matej Kovar.<\/p>\n
Still, the incident remains alarming for Liverpool, marking the third penalty Van Dijk has conceded this season \u2014 more than any other Premier League player in all competitions.<\/p>\n
To add to his woes, the captain received a yellow card in the 17th minute for a late challenge on Ismael Saibari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s captain has left supporters stunned after a highly controversial moment early in their Champions League showdown with PSV. Virgil van Dijk caused major confusion among fans just minutes into Wednesday night\u2019s match, as the Reds attempted to recover from their dismal 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. With pressure mounting and Liverpool sitting 12th in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":55404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/resize-4.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55405,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55403\/revisions\/55405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}