Van Dijk: Gravenberch red card changed the game against Man City

Virgil van Dijk yielded Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City switched on Ryan Gravenberch’s second-half red card.

Gravenberch was sent for a second-bookable offense in the 62nd minute, having actually been punished for an awkward obstacle on the back of Jeremy Doku.

City, betting the very first time considering that being condemned of breaching the Premier League’s monetary policies, scored two times in the following 6 minutes, through Erling Haaland and Doku.

A sensational Rayan Cherki objective then rounded off a streaming group relocate to top the triumph and offer Liverpool their very first loss under Andoni Iraola.

This was the Reds’ joint-biggest defeat at Anfield in the Premier League after 4-1 losses to Chelsea (October 2005) and City (February 2021), and 3-0 beats to West Ham (August 2015) and Nottingham Forest (November 2025).

Liverpool have actually likewise now gone winless in 5 succeeding home video games in the competitors (D4 L1) for the 4th time, and the very first considering that March 2021 (8).

And Van Dijk stated that the momentum of the video game moved when Liverpool decreased to 10 guys, as they had actually been strong up till that point.

“The first half was good from us,” Van Dijk informed Sky Sports. “We revealed our strength; might’ve done much better on events where we got on the break.

“They weren’t enormous possibilities, however we revealed we wished to win, and we had strength, which is the bare minimum.

“Second half, the red card altered the video game, specifically when you yield rapidly later on. We wind up with 10 males is the reality, and we yield rapidly after, and it ends up being a challenging video game versus them once again.

“I think the atmosphere is always good here; I’ve been fortunate to play in a lot of big games here. For other players, maybe it was different, but for me, I was ready to compete, and I think we showed that, especially in the first half.”

A frustrating outcome however thank you for your assistance at Anfield today https://t.co/CrRIkzthMn

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 11, 2026

Iraola suffered his very first Premier League defeat in 24 video games (W10 D13) considering that losing 3-2 versus Arsenal when he supervised of Bournemouth back in January.

He has actually lost 5 times to City in the competitors, his joint-most beats to a single club (likewise 5 versus Liverpool).

The Reds are likewise winless in 8 Premier League video games when dealing with the group beginning the day top of the league (D6 L2), their second-worst run behind 9 matches (2002 to 2008).

“I think it’s obvious. We’ve played two games,” Iraola informed Sky Sports.

“One video game till the 60th minute, and after that another video game after the red card. We were the very best group in the very first video game, and after that they were much better.

“The very first one is not a yellow. Anderson continues a number of actions; he wasn’t even going to offer a nasty. I’ve no concept why he provides a yellow card. We have like 9 gamers behind the ball.

“It’s already difficult to press them when it’s 11 v 11, but with one less, it becomes a different game, and then we concede straight away before making a substitution. You have to play differently when you’re 1-0 down.”

Liverpool lacked 3 crucial gamers in Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai ahead of a hectic run of components in all competitors.

Iraola played down concerns that they would be sidelined for a prolonged spell.

“They are not too big injuries, but we travel to Austria in two days ,” Iraola included.

“It will be difficult; they are ready for the next one.”