Virgil van Dijk 'annoyed' with Kyle Walker and referee over Liverpool vs Man City decision

Virgil van Dijk made it clear that he was not pleased with the match referee for conducting the coin toss without him prior to Liverpool's win against Manchester City.

During his post-match Sky Sports interview, Van Dijk claimed that Chris Kavanagh had tossed the coin without his knowledge, with Kyle Walker then taking the decision to switch the teams around so that Liverpool would be attacking the Kop in the first half, rather than the second half, which is the Reds' usual preference.

"I was annoyed by the fact that he started the toss without me," Van Dijk said. "I was busy with my mascot and took a bit of time but he started the coin toss quite quickly. I was a little annoyed by that but look, good game, we won and we move on."

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Walker's switcheroo did not have the desired effect as Liverpool dominated the opening part of the match before Cody Gakpo opened the scoring in the 12th minute from Mohamed Salah's cross.

Salah doubled Liverpool's lead at the Anfield Road end from the penalty spot in the second half after Luis Diaz had been taken down in the penalty area by City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

Ortega has faced criticism off the back of comments he made after the match, as he reacted to Liverpool's fans mocking Pep Guardiola by criticizing the city of Liverpool.

Thousands of Reds fans jocularly chanted "you're getting sacked in the morning" in the direction of Guardiola, whose City side is winless in seven matches, and the Catalan responded by holding up six fingers — one for each Premier League title he has won as City manager.

Addressing Guardiola's reaction, Ortega said: "Someone told me before that this area is probably not the best part in the UK. I think he reacted really well.”