Virgil van Dijk has denied claims that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance against Manchester United in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw on Sunday was adversely affected by the ongoing speculation over his future. And the Reds captain believes United were being disrespected in some sections of the media in the build up to the fixture at Anfield, due to their form heading into the game against the Premier League leaders.

After Lisandro Martinez had fired the visitors into the lead in the second half, a Cody Gakpo equaliser was followed up by a Mohamed Salah penalty before Amad Diallo earned a point for the struggling Red Devils.

Alexander-Arnold was widely critiqued after the match for what was viewed as below-par contribution where he failed to win a single duel and was culpable for the first goal in particular, as he let Bruno Fernandes drift inside too easily before the Portugal midfielder supplied Martinez with an assist.

Alexander-Arnold’s slack pass also led to United pouring forward late on in search of a winner before he was withdrawn for Conor Bradley almost immediately after the incident inside the final 10 minutes.

The general display was the subject of some intense post-match debate on Sky Sports and the game came just days after Liverpool turned down an approach from Real Madrid.
The Reds are in no mood to speak to the La Liga champions about a deal this month but the defender is free to speak to the current Champions League holders about signing as a free agent at the end of his contract later this year.

Asked if the intense speculation affected Alexander-Arnold’s performance, Virgil van Dijk said: “No. I am fine with it. Trent has his own people around him, his family and we are there as well.

“He wants to perform in the best way possible like we all do. That is the main focus. In my opinion, maybe ask him, that is the distraction, the game.
“We have been there last year too, and drew 0-0 I think. It is always a special one (this fixture) and today is no different. We could and should have done better in having the ball, keeping it longer. We showed good things as well, resilience again after going 1-0 down. So it was good things and less good things. We have to get up.
“It was a good game for the neutral. It was quite cold so the game helped to heat them up! Jokes aside, I think we should have done better especially after going 2-1 up. We were sloppy and let them come back.

“United came back into the game because of their quality but we lost the ball too easily in difficult moments. Spaces became much bigger than they should have been. It could have been in the end a lot worse than what we have right now but I take the point.”

Van Dijk also outlined his shock at how many were predicting a statement victory for the league leaders against a team who entered the game on the back of four successive defeats and were 14th in the table.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot was asked, jokingly, in his Friday press conference if the disparity in form between the two clubs would see him rest players for Sunday’s game. “Do I feel United were disrespected? Yeah,” Van Dijk added. “I heard in the press conference someone asked if we were going to rotate players against United. I was shocked. It is one of the biggest games of the season and United will always make it tough. To hear that, I was surprised.

“We are playing against a good opponent. I think everyone from the outside world forgets that by the sound that had been going around before the game. They have good players. They are obviously a work in progress like we are but they made it difficult for us.”
“That’s all the media,” he added in a separate post-match chat to the BBC. “Media talk. It’s nothing to do with us. We prepared for a very tough game like we have seen today. We didn’t think any of that.”

Asked for an update on his own contract situation, the Netherlands skipper, who can also talk to clubs outside of England about pre-contract terms, said: “I don’t think [there will be an update soon] but I am calm about it, like I said months ago.

“We’ll see what happens in the future and at this point I have absolutely no update. It’s all about at the moment focusing, for me and the team, on Spurs [on Wednesday]. It will be a tough game again, but a good [Carabao Cup] semi-final.”