Virgil van Dijk Admits Adrian Error Was Costly in Atletico Madrid Defeat

Virgil van Dijk has opened up on Liverpool's disappointing Champions League round of 16 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid, and said that Adrian's error was hard to recover from.

Adrian has deputised in the absence of first-choice keeper Alisson a total of 18 times this season, but has only kept three clean sheets in the process. He had to stand in for the Brazilian again on Wednesday night, and was at fault for Atletico's first goal in extra-time.

Talking to the Daily Mail after the game, van Dijk admitted: "Anyone can make a mistake. It happens.

“But Adrian’s judgement seemed to turn the game around. I’m not going to say anything about that. You win together; you lose together. These things happen in matches. We lost. That’s tough to take.”

Liverpool won the Champions League for a sixth time last season, knocking out the likes of ​Napoli, ​Bayern Munich and ​Barcelona along the way, and were crowned champions of Europe by beating Spurs at the final at the Wanda Metropolitano. But defeat there this season against Atletico in the first leg proved costly.

They were kept out for much of the tie by Jan Oblak, and as quoted by the ​Evening Standard, van Dijk praised the Slovenian stopper for his performance across the two legs.

“We tried everything, and I think the difference was their goalkeeper," he said. "He was outstanding.

"He saved them plenty of times – maybe three or four big, big saves that I can remember. We tried everything, that was the main thing.”

The rest of the Champions League round of 16 clashes ​have been postponed due to the spread of coronavirus, so Atletico will have to wait to find out their opponents in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, the Premier League season ​has been suspended until April 4 at the earliest.