"He could have given it, he didn't give it" - Virgil van Dijk admits Liverpool teammate was lucky to avoid red card against Everton 

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has opened up about the controversy surrounding teammate Ibrahima Konate's near-miss red card against Everton.

The Reds secured a 2-0 victory over their Merseyside rivals on 21 October thanks to a brace from Mohamed Salah, which included a 75th-minute penalty and a stoppage-time strike to secure all three points.

Ashley Young picked up a red card in the encounter in the first half after his foul on Luis Diaz. Liverpool were close to being reduced to ten men after Konate's challenge on Everton striker Beto, having received a yellow card for a similar offense earlier in the match.

However, the French centre-back was not penalized for the foul, causing a huge stir, with Everton questioning why he was not sent off. Van Dijk has admitted that his club teammate was fortunate to be let off the hook.

The former Southampton defender said after the match (via the official Liverpool website):

"A bit of luck? Definitely. What can I say? He could have given it, he didn't give it. A bit of luck for us. So what can I say? Nothing else. I think with tackles and stuff, that’s for the referees to judge. Especially the second I noticed that when there is a decision, we wanted to stay away from the referee and to make sure we don’t get yellow cards for shouting or saying, ‘Ref yellow for this.'"

He added:

"That’s something we have influence on and that’s a bit like something we should stay away from. We did that very well, especially with the circumstances. Like I spoke about before, we were lucky not to concede a second yellow with Ibou, he knows it but we move on."

Konate has registered nine appearances across all competitions for the Reds so far this season.

"I love the numbers!" - Jurgen Klopp heaps praise on Liverpool superstar for performance against Everton

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reserved special praise for Salah after his clinical performance against Everton over the weekend. The German boss is fascinated by the Egyptian forward's exceptional numbers in terms of goal contributions.

Klopp admitted that while Salah did not put on his best display, he managed to find the back of the net when the club needed him the most. The Reds' boss said after the match (per the club's official website):

"Look, what I love most about Mo is… well, maybe mostly I love the numbers! But I think that Mo Salah played for us an incredible amount of fantastic games. Today was not his best game but then [still] being that clinical with the penalty and then staying in the situation, that's probably his biggest quality, and I love that."

Klopp added on the former Chelsea forward:

"We need someone who can bring the ball over the line and he was that again. I couldn't respect that fact more. It's absolutely outstanding, the numbers are crazy. He will never stop, that is his nature and that's really cool for us."

Salah does have impressive numbers for Liverpool, scoring 194 goals and providing 83 assists across all competitions for the Reds. The Egypt international is off to an excellent start to the 2023-24 campaign, recording eight goals and four assists in 11 appearances across competitions.