Virgil van Dijk trolled Richarlison after escaping a red card for an ‘elbow’ on the Tottenham forward during Liverpool’s Carabao Cup semi-final victory at Anfield.
Tensions were running extremely high in the opening stages on Merseyside with Spurs holding a one-goal advantage from the first leg and there was a flashpoint involving Reds skipper Van Dijk and former Everton striker Richarlison.
Just three minutes into the match, Van Dijk escaped punishment after an ‘elbow’ caught the Brazilian as they battled for the ball.
Van Dijk and Richarlison tangled on a couple of occasions early in the game
Richarlison was left fuming by the challenge but referee Craig Pawson let play continue before calling the players together for a talking to.
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Richarlison fumes at Van Dijk after the Dutchman’s challenge
The incident was checked and cleared for violent conduct as the VAR deemed there was no error on-field to overturn the decision as Van Dijk escaped further punishment.
It was not the only incident involving Van Dijk and Richarlison that caught the eye, with the Dutchman coming out on top again.
Referee Craig Pawson talks to Richarlison and Van Dijk
The two tangled again shortly afterwards with Van Dijk bringing down the forward on the edge of the Spurs box.
Van Dijk offered out his hand to help Richarlison up but, just as he was about to take it, he pulled his hand away before running back into his own half.
Newcastle troll Arsenal over match ball after Carabao Cup win
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Richarlison fumes at Van Dijk after the Dutchman’s challenge
It was not the first trolling of the week after Newcastle’s official social media accounts trolled Mikel Arteta about his comments over the match ball following their Carabao Cup win over Arsenal on Wednesday.
The Magpies’ X and Instagram accounts both posted photos of the yellow Mitre Carabao Cup ball following their 4-0 aggregate win, referencing comments made by Arteta after his side were beaten in the first leg of the semi-final last month.
“I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot,” he said after the Gunners had wasted 23 shots worth 3.09 expected goals at the Emirates Stadium.
Newcastle posted a photo of a ball inside the goal with the caption “The culprit:” around an hour after full-time in Wednesday’s second leg.
By 8.30am on Thursday, it had racked up 4m views on X, as well as 118,000 likes.
The Premier League has already this week begun to consider imposing punishments on individual players if they feel goal celebrations are damaging the reputation of the game or could inflame opposition fans or players.
In recent weeks, a spate of celebrations designed to wind up opposition players and fans have drawn national attention after Iliman Ndiaye imitated a seagull in front of the home fans in Everton’s win at Brighton, while Myles Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland in his goal celebration in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Man City on Sunday.
Although Newcastle’s celebrations were confined to social media, it may raise questions over whether governing bodies may at some point also choose to step in if they feel the game is being brought into disrepute.
