Virgil van Dijk given red card in Liverpool horror first 30 mins vs Newcastle

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    • Virgil van Dijk was sent off after fouling Alexander Isak as the last man just 30 minutes into Liverpool’s trip to Newcastle United.

    The Liverpool captain was given his marching orders after kicking through the Magpies striker to clear the ball away – and appeared to tell referee John Brooks his decisions was a 'f***ing joke'.

    Liverpool found themselves a goal down after Anthony Gordon capitalised on a Trent Alexander-Arnold mishap to slot through the legs of Alisson on the 25th minute mark.

    And it got worse for the Reds just three minutes later when Van Dijk was given his marching orders.

    READ MORE: Gary Neville slams 'it's too big for him' as ref 'bottles' Trent Alexander-Arnold red

    Van Dijk was left furious with referee John Brooks as he berated the referee whilst the decision was checked by Stuart Atwell on VAR.

    But Atwell decided there was no clear and obvious error to refer Brooks to the screen, and the enraged Dutchman left the pitch before speaking to a stunned Jurgen Klopp on the bench before heading down the tunnel.

    Do you think Virgil van Dijk should have been sent off? Let us know in the comments section.

    Klopp acted quickly to sacrifice Luis Diaz and bring on Joe Gomez in an attempt to fill Van Dijk’s void in the backline.

    The foul on Isak was outside the box and the resulting free kick was blocked, but Klopp had his goalkeeper to thank that Newcastle didn’t double their lead just minutes later.

    Alisson pulled off an incredible stop to push Miguel Almiron’s volley onto the crossbar before pushing it away from danger.

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    Brooks’ performance was the centre of discussion throughout the first half after the referee opted not to brandish Alexander-Arnold a second yellow card just six minutes in.

    Alexander-Arnold was booked just minutes into the game for throwing the ball away after he fouled Gordon, and the decision not to send him off left Magpies fans enraged as the atmosphere reached boiling point.

    Gary Neville on commentary at St James’ Park labelled the Reds right-back “lucky” to still be on the pitch and suggested the game was “too big” for Brooks.

    • Virgil van Dijk
    • Liverpool FC

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