Virgil van Dijk's furious eight-word response when asked again about the referee after England defeat

Virgil van Dijk was left furious when he was asked about the referee after Netherlands' 2-1 Euro 2024 semi-final defeat to England.

Van Dijk and his Dutch team-mates tasted defeat in Dortmund after Ollie Watkins' injury time winner.

They had earlier taken the lead after just seven minutes through Xavi Simons' long-distance strike, before Harry Kane equalised from the penalty spot on 18 minutes.

The award of the penalty was controversial, with Gary Neville calling it a 'disgraceful decision'.

Penalty - 𝙔𝙀𝙎 or 𝙉𝙊? 🤔

Frankly, does anyone care?#Euro2024 | #NEDENG pic.twitter.com/6c9cjMQhEF

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 10, 2024

Referee Felix Zwayer initially deemed the incident, which saw contact between Kane and Denzel Dumfries inside the area, as not worthy of a penalty kick.

But VAR sent the official over to the monitor, with Zwayer then decided to award the penalty.

Speaking after the match, a furious Van Dijk confirmed that the referee immediately walked off the field at play at full-time - effectively claiming that he did not want to face the Dutch players and manager Ronald Koeman.

But when asked again about the integrity of the referee, Van Dijk simply replied: "Are you trying to get me into trouble?"

Koeman was less magnanimous towards VAR after the incident, and accused the technology of 'destroying football'.

He said: "This is not a penalty. His [Dumfries] only intention was to block a shot. Harry Kane then shoots, and their feet collide.

Wasn’t trying to get him in trouble but that’s the sad reality of the game.

Players can’t talk freely about a prosecuted match fixing case that happened in 2005 for fear of sanctions… https://t.co/HaTNPHyGXr

— Neil Barker (@Mockneyrebel) July 11, 2024

"Football is getting destroyed by these types of decisions by VAR. This penalty would not have been given in England.

"What should you do as a defender? I thought the referee whistled for a lot of silly things, but that's not why we lose.

"In general, I am very proud. We started well, but England got on top in midfield and we had to change things.

"I thought we were the better team, but they scored a killer goal in the 91st minute."