(Video) Virgil van Dijk had a brutal message for Pau Torres over Villa penalty claim | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk had strong words for Pau Torres after an unsuccessful penalty claim from the Aston Villa defender in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Anfield tonight.

The victory was sealed in the 84th minute when a Reds counterattack ended with Mo Salah calmly slotting the ball past Emi Martinez, although it was only seconds earlier that the action was focused at the other end of the pitch.

Van Dijk chides Torres over penalty shout

The Spanish defender ran into Ryan Gravenberch and tumbled to the ground in apparent agony, with some Villa players screaming for a spot kick from David Coote.

However, replays showed that it was Torres who tried to win the penalty rather than the Liverpool midfielder doing anything out of order, and after the Villans’ number 14 picked himself up off the turf, Van Dijk appeared to reprimand him for going down so easily despite his towering presence.

TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher lip-read the signals from the Reds captain as him telling the 27-year-old that he’s 6 foot 4 and shouldn’t be trying to con the referee.

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Van Dijk was right to call out Torres

It was obvious from the replay that Torres ran into Gravenberch and tried to hoodwink Coote, with the Reds midfielder simply standing his ground.

Some Villa fans may feel aggrieved that, seconds later, the ball was nestling in the back of Martinez’s net as Salah put the game to bed at the other end of the pitch, but there was simply no way that a penalty could’ve been given.

In the interests of balance, Conor Bradley did grab a hold of the Spanish defender’s shirt in the box earlier in the second half, an incident which was checked by Paul Tierney on VAR, who saw no reason to recommend an on-field review.

Irrespective of those various decisions, it was still disappointing to see a good strong player in Torres going down so easily, and Van Dijk had every right to chide him.

You can check out Van Dijk’s message for Torres below, via TNT Sports on X (formerly Twitter):