Van Dijk: Gravenberch red card changed the game against Man City

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Virgil van Dijk conceded Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City turned on Ryan Gravenberch’s second-half red card.

Gravenberch was sent off for a second-bookable offence in the 62nd minute, having been penalised for a clumsy challenge on the back of Jeremy Doku.

City, playing for the first time since being found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations, scored twice in the following six minutes, through Erling Haaland and Doku.

A stunning Rayan Cherki goal then finished off a flowing team move to cap the victory and deal Liverpool their first loss under Andoni Iraola.

This was the Reds’ joint-biggest defeat at Anfield in the Premier League after 4-1 losses to Chelsea (October 2005) and City (February 2021), and 3-0 defeats to West Ham (August 2015) and Nottingham Forest (November 2025).

Liverpool have also now gone winless in five successive home games in the competition (D4 L1) for the fourth time, and the first since March 2021 (eight).

And Van Dijk said that the momentum of the game shifted when Liverpool went down to 10 men, as they had been strong up until that point.

“The first half was good from us,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports. “We showed our intensity; could’ve done better on occasions where we got on the break.

“They weren’t massive chances, but we showed we wanted to win, and we had intensity, which is the bare minimum.

“Second half, the red card changed the game, especially when you concede quickly afterwards. We end up with 10 men is the fact, and we concede quickly after, and it becomes a difficult game against them again.

“I think the atmosphere is always good here; I’ve been fortunate to play in a lot of big games here. For other players, maybe it was different, but for me, I was ready to compete, and I think we showed that, especially in the first half.”

A disappointing result but thank you for your support at Anfield today  https://t.co/CrRIkzthMn

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 11, 2026

Iraola suffered his first Premier League defeat in 24 games (W10 D13) since losing 3-2 against Arsenal when he was in charge of Bournemouth back in January.

He has lost five times to City in the competition, his joint-most defeats to a single club (also five against Liverpool).

The Reds are also winless in eight Premier League games when facing the team starting the day top of the league (D6 L2), their second-worst run behind nine matches (2002 to 2008).

“I think it’s obvious. We’ve played two games,” Iraola told Sky Sports.

“One game until the 60th minute, and then another game after the red card. We were the best team in the first game, and then they were better.

“The first one [Gravenberch booking] is not a yellow. [Elliot] Anderson carries on a couple of steps; he wasn’t even going to give a foul. I’ve no idea why he gives a yellow card. We have like nine players behind the ball.

“It’s already difficult to press them when it’s 11 v 11, but with one less, it becomes a different game, and then we concede straight away before making a substitution. You have to play differently when you’re 1-0 down.”

Liverpool were without three key players in Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai ahead of a busy run of fixtures in all competitions.

However, Iraola played down worries that they would be sidelined for a lengthy spell.

“They are not too big injuries, but we travel to Austria in two days [to face LASK in the Champions League],” Iraola added.

“It will be difficult; they are ready for the next one.”

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