"Allowed to play rugby on the field" - Rival fans believe Liverpool star 'never gets punished' for errors after Reds' loss to Fulham

Rival fans believe that Virgil van Dijk was lucky not to have been sent off in the Premier League match between Fulham and Liverpool on Sunday (April 6). This comes after the defender rammed into forward Rodrigo Muniz just five minutes into proceedings and also elbowed Sander Berge inside the penalty box later on in the game.

Liverpool were handed their second defeat of the 2024-25 Premier League season as they succumbed to a 3-2 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage. With Arsenal dropping points against Everton on Saturday, Arne Slot’s side were handed the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table to 14 points.

Surprisingly, the Reds started slowly as Fulham almost got a very early lead when Andreas Pereira forced a mistake from Ibrahima Konate in his own box, but were granted a let-off when Van Dijk stopped Muniz in his tracks.

Despite Fulham’s strong start, they found themselves behind in the 14th minute as Alexis Mac Allister unleashed a fierce shot from a distance that went past Bernd Leno’s outstretched arm. The Cottagers were, however, undeterred by the setback as they continued to crank up the pressure.

Their efforts were rewarded sooner as Ryan Sessegnon restored parity in the 23rd minute. In what came as a surprise, Liverpool found themselves trailing by two goals before the break, thanks to strikes from Alex Iwobi and Muniz.

Luis Diaz reduced the deficit for the Reds in the 72nd minute, but their late onslaught proved abortive as Fulham displayed resilience at the back.

While Liverpool lost the game, fans were displeased with the match officials for not penalizing Van Dijk for his challenge on Muniz and Berge.

An X user wrote:

‘‘Van Dijk is allowed to play rugby on the field..''

Another tweeted:

‘‘Fully clocked how Prem refs are way too scared of Van Dijk.''

‘‘These prem refs just let Van Dijk do whatever he wants,'' @osowxvyy asserted.

‘‘Van Dijk could punch someone in the face and get away with it,'' @AFC_Elite posited.

‘‘They are never beating the liVARpool allegations. did i just see a van dijk elbow……,'' @m1nuyln added.

‘‘Van Dijk gets away with another one,'' @Orangeiceman10 chimed in.

‘‘Van dijk is one of the most sneakily dirty players in the world. Has a reputation of being a perfect center back who never does anything bad but every other game puts an elbow into someone and NEVER gets punished,'' @Zak192302 wrote.

‘‘He has no chance of getting the ball’’ – Former PGMOL official says Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk should have seen red after challenge on Rodrigo Muniz

Former head of PGMOL, Keith Hackett, believes Van Dijk should have been penalized for his challenge on Muniz and labeled the Dutch defender ‘a serial offender. He further claimed that Fulham should have been given a penalty.

Hackett said (via Telegraph):

‘‘Virgil van Dijk once again unfairly impedes his opponent. He knows exactly what he is doing. He has no chance of getting the ball, turns his back and effectively blocks Rodrigo Muniz. Under the old law this may have been obstruction but, under the new law, unfairly impeding equals a direct free-kick – and because this was in the box, it is a penalty kick. Van Dijk is a serial offender and gets away with another one. This came instantly after Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher had carelessly taken out Andreas Pereira. This was also a penalty – no wonder Fulham manager Marco Silva was going mad.’’

The Premier League also released a statement saying it ''checked and cleared'' the incident between Van Dijk and Muniz.