JAKARTA - Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk has accused his team of surrendering and apologised to fans after being humiliated in the FA Cup by Manchester City.
The Reds' hopes of salvaging a domestic trophy from a disappointing season were shattered in a 0-4 defeat in the quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium, Saturday, April 4, 2026.
After a balanced first half, the visitors surrendered after Van Dijk committed a foul on Nico O'Reilly and Erling Haaland scored from the resulting penalty.
Haaland then scored a hat-trick as the Citizens scored four goals when the clock only pointed to the 57th minute.
"I can only apologize to the fans for what we have shown, especially in the second half. Obviously you come out with the right intention from the locker room, to hope to score a goal to 2-1 as soon as possible to change the course of the game."
"What happened was the opposite. To come back from 0-3 down is obviously very difficult here, but you also can't give up and maybe, at some point, that's what happened."
"We disappointed our supporters, we disappointed ourselves, and the manager. The way we played in the second half, in particular, must have hurt everyone. It must have hurt me," said Van Dijk.
The disappointing result increased the pressure on Manager Arne Slot ahead of the daunting Champions League quarterfinal trip to Paris Saint-Germain's home.
"This is a team effort, isn't it? Obviously he is responsible as a manager, but we are the ones on the field who have to do it."
"The fact is now, PSG are waiting for us. I watched them a little bit on Friday (3 April 2026). It will be very difficult again. So, we have to be ready mentally as soon as possible."
"I'm lucky enough to have played for Liverpool for so many years. The main thing we've always had is togetherness."
"Obviously now we are in a transitional period, we have to find the rhythm of the game. It's hard to perform every two days if you're not consistent," said Van Dijk.
Liverpool's difficulties have also cast doubt over their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League. They face a crucial Premier League game against Fulham between the two PSG matches.
"We have a responsibility to ourselves and, above all, to the supporters. If we want to achieve something from this season, then we have to try and produce something special in the next three games."
"I'm trying to think about how we can turn this around. We've had this for almost 75 per cent of the season."
"We go back to a game where we lost in terms of intensity or lost in terms of how much we wanted to fight. It's hard to accept and everyone has to introspect," said Van Dijk.
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