Virgil van Dijk urges Liverpool to move on quickly from Europa League heartbreak – and highlights how everyone is part of their Premier League title push
- Virgil van Dijk knows Liverpool cannot dwell on Europa League defeat
- He took positives from their improvement in the second leg against Atalanta
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Virgil van Dijk has urged his Liverpool teammates to put their Europa League woes behind them and focus on the challenge ahead.
Liverpool play Fulham on Sunday and have little time to dwell on their fears, with ‘six cup finals’ on the horizon, as Gary McAllister put it.
The Reds beat Atalanta 1-0 on Thursday evening, but it was not enough to overturn their 3-0 deficit after a horrendous performance at Anfield in the first leg last week.
“We have to turn this around very quickly, recover and travel to London on Saturday,” Van Dijk told TNT Sports.
‘What we have to do is get back up. We have been through difficult moments together. Showing maturity and togetherness is the key to this, and professionalism to prepare for Sunday, because that will also be a tough match.
Virgil van Dijk insisted Liverpool needed to get over their Europa League heartbreak quickly
Liverpool were disappointed after being knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta
Jurgen Klopp’s side have six games left in the Premier League and are two points behind Manchester City
‘We all have a responsibility to be physically and mentally ready.
âWe are disappointed to be out of the competition as we really wanted to win it.â
âWe won tonight and kept a clean sheet, so there are still so many positives we can take. Yes, it’s a bad feeling to be away, so we have to get back up.
‘We now need everyone for the final push in the competition. Hopefully our fans will be there, because we need them now more than ever because anything is still possible.â
Liverpool have six games remaining in the Premier League and are in third place, two points behind Manchester City.
They still have to compete against a number of top teams in the division in their run-in, namely Tottenham and Aston Villa, who are battling for fourth place.
This 1-0 win in Bergamo ended the rot of three scoreless matches following a 2-2 draw against Manchester United, a 3-0 thrashing of Atalanta and a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday.