JAKARTA - Virgil van Dijk revealed that he had spoken to Xavi Simons after the tackle that resulted in a red card for the midfielder in Liverpool's 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, December 21, 2025 WIB.
He stressed that his teammate in the Dutch National Team did not intend to hurt him.
Simons was sent off in the first half of Tottenham's game against the Reds after a VAR review showed the 22-year-old had made a tackle to the back of Van Dijk's calf.
His dismissal paved the way for Liverpool to secure a victory that lifted them to fifth in the Premier League table, while Spurs dropped to 13th.
"I don't think there was any intention to hurt me, but obviously he hurt me. Then the referee and VAR made the decision to send him off."
"I spoke to him. It was a chat that no one needed to know about," Van Dijk said.
Liverpool's victory came at a cost, with forward Alexander Isak forced off the field moments after scoring the visitors' opener in north London.
The 26-year-old looked in great pain after colliding with Spurs defender Micky van de Ven. The Reds will now have to wait anxiously to find out how serious his injury is.
"Injuries are unfortunately part of football and hopefully Alex's injury is not too bad. He scored a good goal. It's too early after the game to know (how bad the injury is). He needs to be checked out."
"We all saw how bad Alex's injury was, but hopefully it's not too bad," said Van Dijk.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are now unbeaten in six games in all competitions, but they almost conceded an equalizer in the final minutes against Spurs playing with nine men - after Cristian Romero received a second yellow card in the second half injury time.
"The immediate reaction after coming off the pitch was that the last five to 10 minutes were very chaotic. The result was not exceptional, but getting three points is a very important thing."
"Nothing went wrong until we conceded the goal. We need to analyse the last part, but personally I am very happy and now we are focused on the next game."
"When you concede and the opposing fans are fully supportive, it is never easy to make the right decisions and find the right solutions."
"It's something we can improve, but I don't think it's worrying. It's a transitional period and we need to keep getting better," Van Dijk said of the performance.
The Reds have plenty of time to prepare for Wolverhampton Wanderers after Christmas. Even though his opponent is in the top four, Van Dijk insists there is no room for complacency.
The reason is that Liverpool needs victory after victory to stay on track for the English League title this season.
"Winning more games, getting results, is always positive. Losing games, especially at a club like Liverpool, is always bad. For us, it's about staying calm. Facing each game one at a time."
"Today we won. Now we have a few days off. We will recover and then we will focus on Wolves."
"It's going to be a tough game. I saw their game against Spurs. Wolves will make it difficult for us and we have to be ready for that."
"First of all we celebrate Christmas. Being with family and staying healthy is the most important thing in life," said Van Dijk.
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