What Virgil van Dijk did after City penalty award speaks volumes about contentious decision

It’s fair to say that Virgil van Dijk didn’t agree with the decision to award Manchester City an early penalty against Liverpool on Sunday.

In the 10th minute at the Etihad Stadium, Jeremy Doku skipped past Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate in the visitors’ penalty area and went to ground under a challenge from the advancing Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Chris Kavanagh was duly summoned to the VAR pitchside monitor and, after a comprehensive review, awarded a spot kick after adjudging the Reds goalkeeper to have slightly clipped the Belgian winger. The Georgian duly held his nerve to save the subsequent penalty from Erling Haaland.

When the referee announced that a spot kick would be given, several reports at the Etihad spotted Van Dijk’s far from agreeable reaction.

Van Dijk sarcastically applauds penalty decision

Both Adam Bate (Sky Sports) and Shamoon Hafez (BBC Sport) noticed the Liverpool captain sarcastically applayding the decision, with the former spotting the disbelief of Reds players who watched the replay on the VAR monitor.

The Dutch defender continued to register his disgust when holding onto the ball for an extended time and initially refusing to hand it over to Ruben Dias.