Virgil van Dijk has criticized referee Tony Harrington after Liverpool’s draw with Fulham on Saturday.
The match started poorly for the Reds when Andreas Pereira scored for Fulham early on at Anfield. Liverpool’s situation worsened when left-back Andy Robertson received a red card just 17 minutes into the game.
Robertson miscontrolled a pass and brought down an onrushing Harry Wilson near the edge of the penalty area. Harrington hesitated before a lengthy VAR check, ultimately showing Robertson a red card and reducing Liverpool to ten men for the rest of the match.
Cody Gakpo equalized for Liverpool shortly after the restart, but Marco Silva’s side regained the lead with a goal from substitute Rodrigo Muniz.
As the match progressed, Liverpool pushed for an equalizer and were rewarded when Diogo Jota fired a shot into the bottom corner, ensuring the Reds did not leave Anfield empty-handed.
After the match, van Dijk praised his team’s resilience but noted that both teams had issues with the referee’s performance.
“A great comeback is very positive,” van Dijk said on Sky Sports. “It’s disappointing to be down to 10 men, but we showed fight and kept trying to create chances. We could have scored more, but we take the point and move on.”
He continued: “Stay calm. It’s easier said than done. It was always going to be tough against them. We saw that last year and last week against Arsenal. We had to turn it around and keep fighting.”
Van Dijk mentioned conversations with Fulham players, stating, “We felt like the referee was nervous. He couldn’t communicate properly with Robertson.”
Despite his critiques, the Dutch defender emphasized that the referee was not to blame for dropping points.
“We can’t put the blame on the referee,” he added. “We talk about protecting officials, but I couldn’t speak to him. It shouldn’t be a big issue because he isn’t why we dropped points.”
He concluded, “It is what it is. We take the points, recover quickly, and get ready for the game on Wednesday.”
The result leaves Liverpool five points clear of their nearest rivals, Chelsea, in the title race.