Wayne Rooney has pinpointed ‘lazy’ defending from Virgil van Dijk for Paris Saint-Germain‘s crucial goal as Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Liverpool were beaten 4-1 on penalties by the reigning French champions at Anfield to exit the competition at the last-16 stage.
Arne Slot‘s side had held a 1-0 lead from the first leg, but PSG levelled the tie in the 12th minute of the second leg through Ousmane Dembele.
Barcola’s cross led to confusion between Alisson and Ibrahima Konate and the Liverpool defender only succeeded in deflecting the ball into Dembele’s path to finish.
Despite the mix-up between Alisson and Konate, former Man United and England forward Rooney highlighted Van Dijk’s role in the goal.
‘This goal from Liverpool’s perspective is wrong in so many ways,’ Rooney said on Amazon Prime.
‘They are trying to press the ball and Van Dijk gets lazy.
‘If you keep your eye on Van Dijk, he’s walking and leaves a massive gap to Dembele.
‘All he has to do is come across and cover Dembele because there is no other pass for Paris to get out and he doesn’t.
‘Dembele gets it and he’s got a lot of space, gets the ball out wide and then Konate doesn’t switch on and then he reacts.
‘Dembele makes a good run and gets a tap in.’
The last-16 tie was ultimately by a penalty shootout with the two-legged contest having ended level at 1-1.
Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed from the spot as Liverpool bowed out of the competition.
