Virgil van Dijk was taken aback by a question posed to him by Michael Owen after Liverpool beat Everton in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday.
Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game to take Liverpool 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League table in what turned out to be another controversial affair as James Tarkowski – who scored the late, late equaliser in the return fixture in February – somehow avoided a red card for a high, studs up challenge on Alexis Mac Allister in the 11th minute.
Jamie Carragher branded it a “shocking” decision by referee Sam Barrott and VAR Paul Tierney, while ex-Premier League official Mike Dean waved away the PGMOL statement after the game.
Liverpool remain huge favourites to win their second Premier League title, but having been dumped out of the Champions League by PSG and losing the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle ahead of the international break, Owen suggested it’s a season that could leave players with a “bitter taste”.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks,” Owen told Premier League Productions after Liverpool’s win over Everton.
“Liverpool were poised to have a phenomenal season, if they win the Premier League it’ll still be fantastic but with a little bit of a bitter taste because it was building into something special.
“I think it Liverpool fans hard, and the manager and the players, to go out of competitions in quick succession.
“The dust will settle, everyone will realise if it’s the Premier League they win at the end of the season and only the Premier League that’ll be an incredible season and they would’ve snapped your hand off for that at the start of the season.
“But it doesn’t stop the feeling of the last few weeks and to get that winning feeling back will be really important to everybody connected with the club.”
In a post-match interview, Owen asked Van Dijk: “I’m just thinking in terms of the season so far, if you’d have said at the start of the season you were going to win the Premier League I’m sure people would’ve been over the moon. However, it was building into something really special – how hard was it after a couple of big defeats in cup competitions to get your mind tuned back into the Premier League and to finish the season well?”
Van Dijk clearly didn’t agree with Owen’s take, curtly replying: “So you’re suggesting the season is not going to be special any more?”
Owen said: “It will be, absolutely, it will be special, but I thought it could’ve been building into something very special.”
Van Dijk replied: “Well, I think we have to change that narrative a little bit.
“We’re fighting for the biggest prize of the season, we worked so hard for it, 20 teams are working so hard to be on top of the Premier League.
“We have eight games to go, we know what’s at stake, we have to go for it, we have to fight, we have to enjoy the whole ride and then let’s see. Like I said, it’s still looking very special in my eyes.
“I think what you said, at the start of the season, I think no one expected us to even try to fight on all four fronts, obviously we’re at the stage now where we’re still fighting for the biggest, and that’s the reality. It’s still a possibility that this season will be very, very special.”
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After the interview, Owen doubled down on his analysis of Liverpool’s season.
“I stand by what I said. If you had said at the start of the season that Liverpool would win the Premier league, it’s a very, very top season,” Owen said.
“As Virgil said, not many people gave them a chance really, especially changing their manager after so long with Jurgen Klopp being there.
“However, it was building into something incredibly special and I just wondered after a couple of weeks of disappointment how hard was it to re-focus, but obviously he gave us the answer.”
