Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Wataru Endo have offered support to Joel Matip after he scored an own goal which handed Tottenham Hotspur a 2-1 win over the Reds in Saturday’s Premier League late kickoff match.
Jurgen Klopp’s men played the game with nine men following the dismal of Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota in either half, and looked like they were going to hang on for a point until Matip scored an own goal deep in injury time as he attempted weaker to clear Pedro Porro’s cross with his weaker foot.
It left the Cameroonian looking dejected with goalkeeper Alisson Becker cheering him up after the incident that Van Dijk described as “unfortunate.”
“I know it’s difficult as a central defender. If the ball is crossing with an ugly bounce it’s always difficult to clear it,” Van Dijk said.
“It went in and unfortunately that can happen. He’s fine, he’s a good friend of mine and I know he will be fine.”
Endo, who came on as a substitute when Liverpool were down to nine men, said of Matip: “Actually, he played an amazing game so no-one can say something to him. I am so proud of what he did today and I am so proud of what my teammates did.”
The travelling Kop in full voice until the end ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0iWJwY6ykX
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 30, 2023
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou also weighed in on Matip’s own goal, stating his team have had their own share this season with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero being the culprits.
“We’ve had a couple ourselves this year so that’s part of football. We probably didn’t get into those areas enough, that last cross I thought was a quality delivery into an area no defender likes to deal with,” the Australian tactician said.
The defeat denied Liverpool the chance to go top of the Premier League after Manchester City’s loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier in the day and have dropped to fourth as a result.
