'Very difficult' - Virgil van Dijk's verdict on Liverpool's defeat by Man City

The Reds sustained their first defeat of the season as the Premier League campaign resumed at Anfield.

A tight affair swung shortly after the hour mark, with Ryan Gravenberch’s sending-off for a second yellow card followed by quickfire Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku goals.

Rayan Cherki supplied a third for City before the end.

Speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Liverpool captain Van Dijk reflected: “I think the first half was good on our side, we showed a lot of intensity.

“We could have done maybe better on some occasions where we got on the break with them. I don’t think there were massive chances, to be fair, but I think we showed that we wanted to win.

“We had a lot of intensity; that was the bare minimum.

“Second half, we tried to do the same. Unfortunately, the red card obviously changed a big part of the game, especially when you concede that quickly afterwards as well.”

Asked if Gravenberch was ‘unfortunate’ to be dismissed, Van Dijk added: “Probably, yeah. But the matter of fact is he gets a second yellow.

“I think it was interesting there was also a couple of occasions where players were asking for different yellow cards and we had one in the first minute that was cautioned by it, Ronald Araujo, and others weren’t cautioned.

“The matter of fact is we end up with 10 men and then concede pretty quickly after that. Then it becomes a very difficult game against them again.”