It was the WORST he has ever played –Liverpool ace slammed after Red Star

That is the opinion of BT Sport pundit and former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen.

Van Dijk could not prevent the Reds slipping to a shock defeat to put qualification to the knockout stages in doubt.

A Milan Pavkov double in the first half was enough to see off Jurgen Klopp’s side, who were not able to break down Red Star after half time.

Before the match Owen had claimed centre-back Van Dijk was the best defender in world football on current form.

But he admitted after the game he had not seen the Dutchman play worse before.

“I said Van Dijk was the best defender in the world at the moment,” Owen said.

“That’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen him play.

“So it was bad from back to front, right the way through the team for Liverpool.”

At half time of the match in Belgrade, Owen was critical of Van Dijk for his role in Red Star’s opening goal.

Pavkov powered home a header from a corner and Owen felt the Liverpool man was to blame.

“Van Dijk’s made a couple of mistakes,” he said at half time.

“It’s frustrating because for a large part, the first part, really Liverpool were in control.

“And then there was a few mistakes here for the goal.

“It’s a zonal system in many ways but then you’ve got a couple of blockers around the penalty spot.

“And then Pavkov gets in-between (Daniel) Sturridge and Van Dijk really.

“I think if anyone is to blame it’s Van Dijk.

“It goes over Sturridge’s head and he’s got to be able to see that and challenge for it.”

Liverpool remain top of Champions League Group C after Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain played out a 1-1 draw.

Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty cancelled out Juan Bernat’s opener for PSG.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *