ReactionVirgil van Dijk: We made it right - three points the most important thing

The Reds captain produced an 89th-minute headed goal in front of the Kop to secure a 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday and move his side 13 points clear with six games remaining.

Just moments earlier, Van Dijk had been involved in a communication mix-up with Andy Robertson, leading to the latter conceding an own goal to cancel out Luis Diaz’s first-half opener.

• Read our match report from Anfield here

“I heard him [Robertson] shout but listen, these things unfortunately happen. Obviously there was time to make it right and luckily we did,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports post-match.

“We train a lot on it and I try to be important. Finally today I could score the winner. On to the next.”

The No.4 continued: “I can tell you I’m very proud today to captain my 100th [league] game for Liverpool. It was an emotional day because of the Hillsborough anniversary.

“The main focus was to get three points and get a step closer to all of our dreams – not only us as players and staff but the whole of everyone connected to Liverpool FC. That’s the main thing.

“Everyone knows how much I love this club and let’s see what next week will look like.”

Mohamed Salah had followed up the news of his contract extension with Liverpool by setting up the opener for Diaz with a classy outside-of-the-boot pass across the area.

The Egyptian was substituted before the late goals at either end and stressed the importance of ultimately getting over the line on the afternoon.

“It’s a good team, to be fair, they have a good plan,” he said. “They managed to play better in the second half and they managed to score.

“I think in that stage the most important thing is to win the game and we did well in the last few minutes.

“We owe the fans one [a league title]. When we won it [in 2019-20] we won it in a lockdown. So, let’s go for it and win it. That’s the most important thing.”

• Mohamed Salah sets new Premier League goal involvements record