Virgil Van Dijk has warned Darwin Nunez that what happened against Crystal Palace cannot happen again.
Nunez, who joined Liverpool from Benfica for a fee of up to £85 million, was dismissed for a head-butt against Palace defender Joachim Andersen.
The two players were warring throughout the game and the Uruguayan let his tempers boil over when he stuck his head into the Andersen's face.
Despite Liverpool finding an equaliser through a brilliant Luis Diaz solo goal four minutes after the incident, the sending off left the Reds without a focal point and they struggled to find a winner in the final half an hour.
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The result leaves Jurgen Klopp’s side with two draws from their opening two fixtures, and creates a four point gap between themselves and likely title rivals Manchester City at this early stage.
With Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota out injured, and Nunez now facing a three match Premier League ban, the Merseyside club are now short on forward options and Van Dijk has thus warned Nunez that he must learn from the incident.
“He’s got the backing from us and he knows it should not happen again and hopefully it will be that way,” the Dutchman said
“He has to control himself, definitely. I think that’s a separate thing."
"He has to manage himself, he has to be knowing that these things can happen, especially in the Premier League. It will be a learning curve for him and hopefully it will never happen again.”
Nunez was also lambasted for his antics by head coach Jurgen Klopp.
The German told Sky Sports: “Look, he knows that himself. I will talk to him. It makes no sense for me to talk about it in public, you see it.
“It’s not the reaction you want to see. Centre-halves in the Premier League do that- they want to have him, he’s a handful himself but that’s a reaction.
“There’s no time, there’s no pre-season. We don’t know how long he will be suspended."
"We will use it (suspension) for physical work- not as punishment- but making him even stronger and that’s what we’ll try.”
Liverpool travel to Old Trafford next weekend to face North West rivals Manchester United as they look to bounce back from this set-back.
Topics: Liverpool, Virgil Van Dijk, Darwin Nunez
Alfie Culshaw