Virgil van Dijk appears to aim brutal dig at Arsenal less than 24 hours after Newcastle embarrassment

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has appeared to aim a brutal dig at Arsenal following their Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Newcastle.

The Gunners went out at the last four stage via a 4-0 aggregate scoreline on Wednesday evening, with Newcastle winning 2-0 at St James' Park.

Goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon secured the victory for Eddie Howe's side, who will face either Liverpool or Tottenham in the final on March 16.

The Magpies deployed centre-back Fabian Schar into a new role, with the Swiss international regularly covering the majority of the pitch to close down Arsenal's Declan Rice, with the tactic leading the Gunners midfielder to make a mistake that directly led to the second goal.

St James' Park is ROCKING! 🎵🔥

Newcastle capitalise on some sloppy play from Arsenal at the back and Anthony Gordon extends the lead ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/eSHmxkmpha

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 5, 2025

After the match, several Newcastle players made reference to 'staying humble' ahead of the final - a phrase that Manchester City's Erling Haaland used towards Mikel Arteta after City's 2-2 draw with Arsenal earlier this season.

The phrase came back into the mainstream when Arsenal thrashed City 5-1 on Sunday, with Gunners stars making digs towards Haaland after the game.

And ahead of Liverpool's own clash with Spurs at Anfield - which they enter 1-0 down on aggregate - Reds captain Van Dijk stressed the need for himself and his team-mates to stay 'humble' in his programme notes.

He said: "As I have said many times before, this game is all about consistency, about showing up every day, every week.

"If you do that, and if you continue to work hard and stay calm and humble, and treat every opponent with the utmost respect, then you can be successful."

While it isn't explicitly clear as to whether the 'humble' remark was indeed a dig at Arsenal, fans certainly seem to think it was.

One fan wrote on social media: "Even Van Dijk is talking about 'staying humble'."

A second said: "This trend has been crazy."

And a third claimed: "'Treat every opponent with the utmost respect' he knows exactly what he's doing."