{"id":595752,"date":"2026-04-09T13:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:41:11","slug":"liverpools-virgil-van-dijk-up-for-vast-psg-challenge-but-admits-season-unacceptable-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595752\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s Virgil van Dijk up for vast PSG challenge but admits season \u2018unacceptable\u2019 | Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virgil van Dijk has compared the scale of Liverpool\u2019s task against Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona in 2019<\/a> but conceded belief may not be as strong in Arne Slot\u2019s team amid an \u201cunacceptable\u201d season.<\/p>\n

Liverpool require another remarkable Anfield comeback to salvage their Champions League aspirations after losing the first leg of their quarter-final<\/a> against PSG 2-0 on Wednesday. The scoreline flattered the Premier League champions, who were outclassed at the Parc des Princes, yet Van Dijk is \u201c100%\u201d convinced the tie can be transformed on home soil. Memories of Barcelona in 2019 fuel the captain\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n

J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s side were 3-0 down after the first leg<\/a> of their semi-final against Lionel Messi\u2019s Barcelona but won 4-0 on an unforgettable night<\/a> at Anfield en route to winning the European Cup<\/a> for a sixth time. Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u2019s wastefulness in Paris, where he missed an almost identical chance to his stoppage time effort at the Camp Nou seven years ago, offered another parallel for Liverpool to cling to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, you play one of the best teams in Europe, with obviously one of the best players ever in that team and we had injuries,\u201d Van Dijk said. \u201cAnd now we play against the best team in Europe. They\u2019re the European champions<\/a>, so I think it is similar in terms of, on paper, probably no one gives us a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with the belief that comes within yourself. It starts with the belief that we get from our manager, the right gameplan, and the intensity that we have to put in from the first second to the last if you really want to achieve something. That\u2019s what I want. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to tell my boys. We have to show it. We have to show the desire, show the fight \u2013 that\u2019s the least you have to do as a Liverpool<\/a> player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Dijk insisted Liverpool displayed the fight agaist Luis Enrique\u2019s team that was lacking in last Saturday\u2019s FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Manchester City<\/a>. However, after 16 defeats in all competitions this season, 17 including the loss on penalties in the Community Shield<\/a>, the Netherlands\u2019 international admits Liverpool\u2019s current side does not stand comparison with that of the Klopp era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d the defender said of the defeats. \u201cIt\u2019s the reality. It\u2019s the big reality, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so disappointing. And it\u2019s very tough to deal with it. Things will eventually always come to an end, including my time at a certain point. At the moment, the reality is that we are inconsistent. We are losing too many games. We\u2019re having some good moments, and we don\u2019t stay consistent in that sense.<\/p>\n

Virgil van Dijk (in yellow armband) tries to beat PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov in the air. Liverpool managed no shots on target in Wednesday\u2019s match. Photograph: Julien de Rosa\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there was a time also before we had all those good years, and we came out of that as well as a club. It\u2019s down to us as players to actually realise that we have to do it all together. We need each other. At the moment we lose too many games, and the performances have just not been good and we are struggling to find consistency. It\u2019s not easy. But the reality is it is like that, and you have to own up to it, deal with it and improve it. At a certain point things come to an end and then others have to carry on, hopefully with successes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool had only two days to train with the three-man central defence that Slot deployed in Paris, the first time he has adopted that formation in his time at Anfield. Despite losing three games in succession, beginning with the 2-1 defeat at Brighton<\/a>, Van Dijk believes Liverpool\u2019s recovery in the last 16 against Galatasaray<\/a> and last season\u2019s performance against PSG at Anfield<\/a> offer hope for Tuesday\u2019s second leg.<\/p>\n

The captain added: \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a different quality team that we face with all due respect [to Galatasaray]. But the game we played against them [PSG] last year, we lost on penalties, but if you analyse that game we started so well, full of energy, created the biggest chance in Mo [Salah] when Nuno Mendes blocked the ball. That could have changed the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need everything clicking together to turn this around because we play against a team that is just outstanding in every department. But it also comes back to yourself, and to the belief, and the pride: we are Liverpool. That\u2019s why this particular moment hurts so much personally, and it should hurt as well for everyone in the dressing room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virgil van Dijk has compared the scale of Liverpool\u2019s task against Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona in 2019 but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-595752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}