Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-1 in a highly anticipated Premier League match on Sunday to keep the title race wide open. The Gunners played better than the Reds at the Emirates Stadium, but it was a terrible mistake between Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker at the back that let the London side retake the lead to eventually win the game.
67 minutes into the game, with the score at 1-1 as a Gabriel Magalhaes own goal just before halftime canceled out Bukayo Saka"s opener, the Brazilian defender sent a long ball for fellow countryman Gabriel Martinelli. Van Dijk was supposed to protect the ball, but Alisson clashed with him at the edge of the box, gifting Martinelli an open goal. That situation restored Arsenal"s lead and proved to be a turning point in the match. After the final whistle, van Dijk said he"s responsible for that costly mistake, and not the Brazilian goalkeeper.
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Van Dijk takes responsibility for Martinelli"s game-changing goal
“A tough day," Van Dijk told Sky Sports. “I think the 2-1 [Martinelli"s goal], I take full responsibility for that. That is a big moment in the game. I should have made a better decision — it hurts for me. The turning point is my responsibility, I should try to clear it. Obviously these things don"t happen too often in my career, but I will recover from this.
Gabriel Martinelli ⏰👊 pic.twitter.com/JSv4jsIHVt
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 5, 2024
“It is a physical game and I am not looking for excuses. At the highest level it is a split decision. Alisson touched me a little bit and he couldn"t clear it, but I take full responsibility for this and I will try to make sure this doesn"t happen again. It hurts losing. The way we did it today and in so many ways it was unnecessary. It hurts for me and seeing the fans coming all the way down and the whole club it is not nice to be involved in mistakes, but I will work hard and be back."
Jurgen Klopp also addressed the situation, dubbing it as a “very strange goal," though he didn"t blame his players. “Just unlucky. It was an easy goal. It doesn"t happen very often, but it can happen," the Liverpool coach said, via ESPN. We can play much better football. If we want to, we have to play much better and we will. Our two main guys had a misunderstanding. It just shows they are human beings and makes the things they usually do even more special. They"re not happy, we"re not happy, that"s it. You can play super here and lose. We just have to take it and deal with it."
