“The only thing I can say, because it is still ongoing, is that I really enjoyed the competition,” Virgil van Dijk said after Liverpool had been pulled apart at Anfield by the club at the center of English football’s biggest off-pitch story.
The question was legitimate. Days earlier, the Premier League confirmed that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 financial breaches charged in February 2023. The findings cover a nine-year run from 2009 to 2018, and include “sham” commercial agreements that the commission said inflated the club’s revenues over the period.
Van Dijk captains a Liverpool side that lost two Premier League titles on the final day of the season to the City team now ruled to have broken the rules during that very run.
“But that happens on the pitch, while what happened off it is a completely different story,” he told reporters.
“When it is finally resolved, I will definitely share my comments on it, but let’s wait and see for now.”
Three goals in fifteen minutes after Gravenberch’s red
The game had been level for an hour. Ryan Gravenberch was shown a straight red card in the 60th minute, and Liverpool’s resistance collapsed inside the next twenty.
Erling Haaland scored in the 63rd minute, Jeremy Doku added a second in the 70th, and Rayan Cherki finished the scoring in the 78th. It was Manchester City’s first league trip to Anfield since the verdict, and they won it 3-0.
“The first half was good from our side. We showed our enthusiasm, and we could have been better at times,” Van Dijk said of the match.
Read also: Bublik smashed five rackets, kicked his bench and then cut his own hand open in Shanghai
“In the second half, the red card changed the course of the game, especially after conceding a quick goal.”
Van Dijk’s quiet is the exception, not the rule
The captain’s restraint has stood out because almost no one else outside City has shown any. Rival Premier League clubs are reportedly weighing potential compensation claims should sanctions eventually be imposed, according to ESPN.
Andoni Iraola, who took over as Liverpool head coach earlier this year, is now managing a dressing room in which the FFP ruling is both a subplot and a direct piece of the club’s recent history. His captain has chosen not to make it louder on his behalf.
Manchester City have maintained their innocence and lodged an appeal against the commission’s findings. Any sanction, from points deductions to the loss of past Premier League titles, is on hold until that appeal has been heard.
Read also: ‘Mikel, Mikel Merino. 100 per cent’: the Arsenal teammate Lewis-Skelly says is still underrated
Read also: Endrick is staying in Madrid, his agency insists as Milan plot a January loan
