Virgil van Dijk had a measured response to Anthony Gordon’s red-card, studs-up rake down his calf during a breathless encounter between Newcastle United and Liverpool on Monday night.
The visiting captain was on the receiving end of a late lunge from the buccaneering hosts’ striker which left a nasty set of tramlines running down his leg. Gordon offered his hand of apology to Van Dijk who couldn’t suppress a grin. The pair exchanged a brief flurry of words as referee Simon Hooper was directed to the pitch-side monitor to judge if the challenge was worthy of more than his initial yellow card.
