Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and Manchester United hero Wayne Rooney came face-to-face in an awkward television interview after the Merseyside giants had defeated Real Madrid in the Champions League. Rooney criticised the Reds captain at the weekend, with Liverpool struggling for form during the early stages of the campaign.

Liverpool were at their brilliant best on Tuesday evening as they produced an incredible display to defeat Real Madrid at Anfield. Alexis Mac Allister headed in the only goal of the game just after the hour mark after getting on the end of a Dominik Szoboszlai. And the home side would have won by a bigger margin had it not been for the efforts of Real keeper Thibaut Courtois, who made a string of fine saves.

Following Liverpool’s defeat against Brentford last month, Rooney questioned Van Dijk’s body language.

And at the weekend, he took aim at Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, who both signed new contracts last season.

“This is a time when the manager and the leaders in the team need to figure it out very quickly,” insisted the former England captain on his podcast.

“Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they have really led the team this season.”

Van Dijk spoke to Amazon Prime immediately after Liverpool’s win against Madrid, with some of Rooney’s recent comments being brought up during the discussion.

And the Netherlands international explained: “It’s easy to say now [it’s going well]because we won twice in a row. In a world of chaos we have to stay calm and keep the perspective of things. There is so much football to be played, so many twists and turns that can happen. At times, the noise was a lot.”

Van Dijk was then asked by presenter Gabby Logan whether he was “looking at anyone in particular”.

And the centre-back added: “No, no, not at all. I think it’s very important to put things into perspective, keep your head down, working and get out the situation, because our quality is not the issue we have.

“It will always be made bigger, but I think it’s important that top players, those who have played at the top – who have also dealt with a lot of difficult moments – put things into perspective, as well.

“Of course [the criticism has been fair], if you are losing games as a Liverpool player for four or five in a row, it’s a fair criticism.

“That’s fairly normal in that sense, but I think it’s over the top at times as well. But that’s because we live in a world with so many platforms and so many people can say stuff.”

Rooney then chimed in as he joked: “I’m not saying anything [laughing]. I think I spurred them on and put them on a winning streak.”

And after Rooney explained his version of events, Van Dijk told the ex-United forward: “I think if you watch games, you’d see I take responsibility. I thought the comment about me signing my new deal and then all is fine, I thought that was a bit… But that is my personal opinion.”