Topics: Liverpool, Atalanta, Europa League, Jurgen Klopp, Virgil Van Dijk, Football
Virgil van Dijk has been sent a cheeky message on social media by one of Atalanta's players following their shock win over Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp's side suffered their joint-heaviest home defeat in European competition on Thursday night, losing 3-0 to Atalanta in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca scored twice before Mario Pasalic completed a famous victory for the Italian side, their second on Merseyside in recent years.
The result leaves Liverpool staring at elimination from the competition, with a remarkable comeback now required in the second leg in Italy.
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Speaking after the defeat, Reds captain Van Dijk admitted his side deserved to lose.
"Obviously it's not great. A very, very disappointing evening. Too many individual mistakes and we got punished for it. It feels bad," he said.
"With the man-marking system they do, we have to do much better. When we have the ball we have to do better and be much stronger. The spaces were open and they punished us immediately."
Van Dijk added: "If you don't believe, there's no point going to Italy. We have made it very hard for ourselves going there 3-0 down."
Van Dijk's international teammate with the Netherlands, Atalanta midfielder Martin de Roon, was quick to twist the knife.
He took to Instagram after the match to post a video trolling Van Dijk after the win at Anfield.
De Roon shared a clip of the pair shaking hands with a speech bubble graphic added to himself, which read: "If we win, don't tackle me in the national squad."
He posted the clip alongside the caption: "What an insane night."
De Roon then followed that up with another image of him celebration, with the caption: "0-3 at Anfield wasn't a dream, apparently."
Van Dijk may have failed to see the funny side of De Roon's post and will no doubt be hoping to get his own back when Liverpool face Atalanta in the reverse fixture in Italy on Thursday.
