Both Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher agreed that Virgil van Dijk was undeserving of the man of the match award against Inter Milan on Wednesday despite a solid display in Liverpool's defence.
The Dutchman took home the post-match gong after the Reds had just put one foot into the last eight of the Champions league with a 2-0 first-leg victory away at San Siro in the round of 16 tie.
The game looked set to end in a dismal stalemate with Inter actually boasting the better of the chances, before two late goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah left the Serie A giants reeling.
Inter's Hakan Calhanoglu struck the crossbar while Edin Dzeko had the ball in the back of Alisson's net only to be greeted with the linesman's flag, ensuring Liverpool kept a precious clean sheet.
But Henry and Carragher both felt that it was actually Van Dijk's central defensive partner Ibrahima Konate who was the standout performer.
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Their claims were not suggesting Van Dijk was in any way below-par - he put in a stellar showing to keep the Inter attack at bay while donning the captain's armband as Jordan Henderson started on the bench.
On punditry duty for CBS Sports, the Arsenal legend and former Liverpool star gave their reasons as to why they deemed Konate more deserving while reflecting on the ex-RB Leipzig defender's part in Salah's goal.
"His [Salah's] awareness, he knew that the ball was going to come to him and he made sure the ball was going to come to him because Konate was about to unleash it," Henry explained.
"I don’t know what he said to him, but Konate left it!
"And by the way, what a game from Konate. He was absolutely outstanding tonight."
The Frenchman was later pressed on whether he was surprised Van Dijk was deemed man of the match, to which he replied: "Yeah, I thought Konate was man of the match for me."
Liverpool icon Carragher echoed Henry's sentiments and revealed the performance left him impressed with Konate's character given the stature of the opposition and hostile atmosphere.
"I thought Virgil van Dijk played well, but you almost expect it," he added.
"When Konate comes in he’s not first choice exactly as it’s Matip normally, he’s a young player coming in.
"He’s also up against that cauldron of the atmosphere there.
"Van Dijk said how much he enjoyed the atmosphere and we don’t really appreciate it being in the studio.
"For a young player at centre-back, with the players he was up against, I think he probably just edged big Virg."
Konate has left Jurgen Klopp with a decision to make when it comes to who will partner Van Dijk in the upcoming Carabao Cup final as well as the second-leg against Inter.
