Virgil van Dijk confronted Lisandro Martinez during a heated exchange in the first half of Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Martinez had just flown through the back of Dominik Szoboszlai, committing a clear foul and earning a yellow card from referee Anthony Taylor.
As Szoboszlai writhed on the ground in pain, Van Dijk was clearly unimpressed with Martinez’s needless swipe of the midfielder, and the Liverpool captain took it upon himself to make clear to his Argentinian opponent exactly what he thought of the tackle, sprinting out from his position and appearing to shout: “Do that against me!”
Martinez stepped forwards and engaged in strong exchange of words with Van Dijk before referee Taylor calmed the situation.
The confrontation had echoes of the infamous World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Netherlands in Qatar two years ago, a ferocious match in which both players were involved.
It came as Liverpool took a commanding lead in the game. Luis Diaz struck twice after Casemiro errors, teed up by Mohamed Salah on both occasions. The visitors had already had a goal by Alexander-Arnold chalked off earlier in the game after Salah was ruled offside by VAR in the build-up.
