Rooney slams ‘lazy’ Liverpool star over PSG goal after the Reds exit the Champions League

Wayne Rooney has hit out at Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk over his “lazy” attempt at pressing the ball for Paris Saint-Germain’s goal in their Champions League defeat.

Following on from their smash-and-grab 1-0 victory over PSG in the first leg of their last-16 clash, the Reds lost by the same scoreline on Tuesday before defeat in the tie on penalties after extra time.

Liverpool found themselves 1-0 down after only 12 minutes on Tuesday night with Ousmane Dembele getting the crucial goal for the visitors at Anfield.

Dembele passed the ball out wide to Bradley Barcola before running into the box and receiving the ball back to bundle it over the line in front of the PSG supporters.

Alisson came out of goal, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Ibrahima Konate were the closest defenders to him, but, after Liverpool defender Konate had initially intercepted, Dembele managed to put the ball into the net.

And Rooney hit out at Van Dijk for being “lazy” in the build up to PSG’s goal, with the Liverpool captain leaving “a massive gap” for Dembele to exploit.

Speaking at half-time, Rooney said: “This goal from Liverpool’s point of view is wrong in so many different ways.

“They are trying to press the ball and van Dijk gets lazy. If you keep your eyes on van Dijk here, he is walking. He leaves a massive gap for Dembele.

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“All he has to do is come across to Dembele because there is no other pass for Paris to get out but he doesn’t.

“Now Dembele has got a lot of space. And Konate again, he doesn’t switch on, Dembele makes a good run and it’s a tap in.”

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge insists the Reds defence will be “very upset” at conceding such a poor goal to PSG on Tuesday night.

Sturridge said: “It is communication in moments like this. We talking about van Dijk, Szoboszlai and Konate.

“Fair play to Dembele here for following the chance and staying engaged in the moment because you can switch off in those moments but he found himself in the position.

“But they will be very upset in the goal.”

Reflecting on the game, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “It was the best game of football I was ever involved in. I don’t have the history like Liverpool as a manager, but [it was] two teams of an incredible level [at] an incredible intensity.

“The first 25 minutes… OK, I also remember the first 25 minutes against Man City at home and the first 25 against [Real] Madrid, but this was unbelievable what we showed in the first 25. I looked at the scoreboard and we were 1-0 down.

“Over 90 minutes I don’t think we deserved to lose this game of football today. Over 180 minutes, maybe it was deserved that we went to overtime. In overtime I thought Paris Saint-Germain was a bit better than us in this half-hour and then it comes down to penalties and they scored four, us one and we lost.”