Virgil van Dijk refused to divulge the details of his heated post-match exchange with referee Stuart Attwell after Liverpool's 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur but admitted he told the official he made a mistake not sending off match-winner Lucas Bergvall.

Teenage midfielder Bergvall scored the only goal of the game in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg just 125 seconds after a late challenge on Kostas Tsimikas went unpunished when already on a yellow card.

Van Dijk could be seen airing his frustrations to Attwell immediately after the game but was coy when asked about the conversation in north London. The Reds skipper, however, says the team won't use the controversial decision from the officials as additional motivation for the return leg at Anfield next month.

READ MORE: 'The world is now split' - National media spot same Liverpool issue as Arne Slot told to copy rival

READ MORE: Liverpool key man needs a rest as Trent Alexander-Arnold true feelings made clear

"I think our frustration was purely on the pitch and after the game," Van Dijk said. "You can't do anything about it. Unfortunately for us, it ended with him (Bergvall) scoring the winner tonight.

"What do you think [I was saying at full time]? It's correct [that I told him he made a mistake]. What do you think? If you think he made a mistake, then OK.

"No [we don't want to win this more now], it doesn't work like that. We don't need that motivation. We know we're going to be 1-0 down when the game is played at Anfield, so we have to fight.

"We have to do it all together with our fans and the players and hopefully everyone is fit. Lets see if we can do it, it will be very tough because they are a very good team in my opinion, with a very good manager but we're going to go for it.

"Obviously with the result, no-one wants to lose the game. Obviously we are still more than in it but I think the performance was at times good and at other times not good enough and yeah we have to analyse it again and be better.

"I think the first two balls we gave away and then obviously (Rodrigo) Bentancur went off after a long treatment and it breaks a bit of rhythm there, for both teams by the way - I’m not using that as an excuse - but we weren't good enough in possession so we could have kept the ball longer.

"We helped give the momentum and they felt 100% before the game that they wanted to make things right (from 6-3 defeat on December 22). We knew that and then you have to find the right moment to break on them and keep the ball up their end and we did that at times as well, but obviously not through the whole game."

Van Dijk played alongside three different centre-back partners on the night after Jarell Quansah was withdrawn for Wataru Endo through illness before Ibrahima Konate was introduced in the second half.

The Reds captain, though, refused to use that upheaval as an excuse for what is their first defeat in 24 games, dating back to September’s 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.

Van Dijk added: “Obviously that is part of the game and everyone has to step up. The whole backline changed except for me but the players that played did a good job in my opinion. We need everyone at their best and obviously if you've only played once or twice you need rhythm but these guys did well, so on to the next.

“On the whole, with the goal we conceded, we are disappointed. We always try to win the game until the last second but a 0-0 to take it back to Liverpool wouldn't have been a bad result. We're in a semi-final, we know how much they would love to win it but I know for a fact that we would love to win it again. And maybe even more.

“Does having a second leg take the edge off defeat? No, because I don't like losing. In the manner we lost today was unnecessary but like you said there is an opportunity to make this right in a few weeks. So up until then, we have to work and fight, like we have always been doing throughout the whole season, win games and our first one is Saturday.

“The Forest game (next Tuesday), that is for you guys to talk about because right now we focus on our recovery and then on to Accrington.They deserve respect, it's the FA Cup and that is the main focus now.”