Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has urged his team to step up their performances after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Reds’ unbeaten start to the season had ended last weekend after they were beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace and they lost for the second time in four days with the defeat in Turkey on Tuesday night.
Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, making his first start in almost a month, netted the only goal of the game from the spot-kick to give his side the win.
The Premier League side struggled defensively against the physicality of the Turkish champions, with Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz causing problems for the Liverpool backline.
“Difficult to say at the moment. They got the penalty, a couple of opportunities basically though our mistakes in possession. Losing the ball in unnecessary moments, a bit sloppy. But we lost, that’s the frustrating part especially with the terrible performance at the weekend”, the Dutchman admitted after the match.
“I don’t want to curse, it’s bad. But we have to improve quickly. Losing these games doesn’t feel nice, but it’s about head down and keep working.”
The big moment of the game came in the first half, with only 23 seconds between Ismail Jakobs’ goal line clearance and Dominik Szoboszlai foul on Baris Yilmaz.
Osimhen, put the ball beyond Alisson from 12 yards out to give his side the lead in the first half.
Liverpool wasted several efforts to level the scores and were dealt two major injury blows as goalkeeper Alisson and forward Hugo Ekitike were forced to come off with injuries.
The Reds thought they had a late penalty in the match, although the decision was overturned by VAR as Galatasaray claimed a first home win in the UCL in seven years.
“You don’t get time from the outside world. You have to be strong mentally. Everyone is in their own world at times. I’m not worried that things will click anyway, but we have to keep going and stick together. That’s what we’ve been doing at Liverpool”, he continued.
“I hate losing. There shouldn’t be panic, but there should be improvement needed. There should be willingness to improve from the weekend, but it’s not too difficult as the weekend was bad. But don’t make silly mistakes at times, it’s far too easy to say these things. But we have to keep going. Stick together and onto the next one.”
Liverpool head into the weekend with a clash against Chelsea, who were 1-0 winners over Benfica on the same night, on Saturday evening in the English Premier League.
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