Jurgen Klopp pinpointed the moment it went wrong for Liverpool late on
Jurgen Klopp called out the ‘mistake’ by Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk that led to a dramatic fightback from Aston Villa after the Reds had led 3-1. On a dramatic night at Villa Park, Emiliano Martinez blundered for an early own goal, and although Youri Tielemans levelled, a Cody Gakpo tap-in and Jarrell Quansah’s header had the visitors cruising.
But it unravelled for Klopp’s side with five minutes left. There was little sign of danger when Van Dijk picked up the ball in his own area, but the Dutchman then needlessly put Alexis Mac Allister under pressure with a pass into the Argentinian while he was facing his own goal.
Callum Chambers duly dispossessed him after he turned into trouble, and the ball fell to Jhon Duran who fired a low shot home from the edge of the area. Just two minutes later the same player made it 3-3, diverting in Moussa Diaby’s pass to leave Alisson stranded in the Liverpool goal.
The late chaos followed Klopp making a quadruple substitution on the 75 minute mark, but afterwards the German boss argued the changes were necessary and pointed to Van Dijk’s error. “Before we changed, we gave them too many chances,” he told Sky Sports.
