Manchester City’s tactics a compliment to Liverpool, says Virgil van Dijk

‘Hopefully it will be the last time I make that decision,’ said Virgil van Dijk about his lunge on Leroy Sané.Photograph: David Blunsden/Action Plus via Getty Images

Virgil van Dijk has said Manchester City’s caution at Anfield was a sign of respect for Liverpool and promised to learn from the foul that almost cost Jürgen Klopp’s team their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

The Liverpool defender admitted it was “not smart” to dive in on Leroy Sané during the stalemate on Sunday and he was hugely relieved when Riyad Mahrez blazed the 86th‑minute penalty over the bar.

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“To keep a clean sheet after a penalty in the last five minutes makes me a very happy man,” the £75m centre-half said. “It was not smart from me personally and hopefully it will never happen again. Eighty‑five minutes, you obviously get a bit fatigued and that moment goes by in a split second and I decided to dive in, which is not what I would normally do. It was a decision I made and hopefully it will be the last time I make that decision at that time.”

Pep Guardiola said his gameplan was to control possession and avoid losing the ball in areas where Liverpool could counterattack through Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané. While City succeeded, Van Dijk believes the champions’ tactics demonstrated their concern for the threat posed by Liverpool.

He said: “Obviously they were a bit cautious of the way we played and I think we have earned that respect but they still pressed and still tried to play their game. We made it difficult for them and they made it difficult for us at times. We tried to win but at the end we need to be happy – I need to be happy – that we didn’t lose it because of the penalty. They came as they champions and it was lucky they didn’t score but also unlucky we didn’t score either.”

As for the impact of Sunday’s draw on the title race, the Netherlands captain said: “I think it is not about these games, it is all about the other games, the difficult games we have against mid-table and lower teams.”