Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is unequivocal in his stance that Lucas Bergvall should have not been on the pitch to score his winning goal for Tottenham in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup tie. His strike was enough to see Spurs to a 1-0 semi-final first leg win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Moments before his 86th-minute goal, which was the first of his Tottenham career, Bergvall had scythed down Kostas Tsimikas while on a yellow card. Referee Stuart Attwell decided to play advantage with Liverpool on the attack and elected not to hand Bergvall a second caution afterwards.

Tsimikas required treatment on the pitch and so, consequently, had to wait 30 seconds on the touchline before he could re-enter the field - as per the new officiating rules. He was off the pitch when he saw Bergvall sweep the ball past Alisson four minutes from time.

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Van Dijk approached the referee, both after Bergvall's initial challenge and his goal was scored, to make the point every Liverpool supporter was thinking. He did so at full-time, as well, when asked by Sky Sports afterwards about what was said.

"Listen, I think it was quite obvious it was going to be a second yellow," he replied after a short laugh. "I think that was pretty clear, it was a coincidence a minute later he scored the winner, but it is what it is.

"He [the referee] made a mistake in my opinion. I told him that - and he thinks maybe he didn't.

"It was quite obvious. Everyone on the side-line knew it was supposed to be a yellow."

Van Dijk added: "The fact is he [Bergvall] should have been off the pitch. There is a linesman there, there is a fourth official there, there is VAR, there is a referee and he doesn't get a second yellow.

"I'm not saying that's the reason why we lost tonight. But it was a big moment in the game."

The Liverpool captain also admitted his team struggled to create openings throughout the game, which led to only their second defeat of the season. However, he underlined that the Reds can still turn it around in the second leg at Anfield in a month's time.

He explained: "Obviously, we play against an intense team with good attacking players. They can make it difficult and keep running.

"We created good moments at times - not really clear-cut chances in my opinion - but still enough we could have scored. Unfortunately we didn't. It's quite cliche but it's half-time now and I'm looking forward to the game back at Anfield."