Virgil van Dijk has admitted that Darwin Nunez must “learn to control himself” after the striker was sent off for headbutting a Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen.
Nunez, who signed for Liverpool in the summer for a club record £85m, lashed out at Andersen after the Palace defender pushed the Uruguayan during the 1-1 draw.
The 23-year-old had appeared frustrated with Andersen’s physicality throughout the match, having earlier swiped at the player with his hands, and headbutted the Palace player to the ground in the second half.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp argued Nunez was provoked but admitted a red card was the right decision.
He now faces a minimum three-game ban for violent conduct, and Van Dijk has called upon Nunez to not repeat the same mistake again.
“Obviously, he was disappointed and also probably with himself, but it’s a learning curve and obviously we will always back him,” Van Dijk said.
“He’s got the backing from us and he knows it should not happen again and hopefully it will be that way.
“He has to control himself, definitely. I think that’s a separate thing. He has to manage himself, he has to be knowing that these things can happen, especially in the Premier League.
“It will be a learning curve for him and hopefully it will never happen again.”
Liverpool have taken just two points from their opening matches against Fulham and Crystal Palace, and have looked far from the side that just months ago were chasing an unprecedented quadruple.
But Van Dijk remained calm and drew positives from the performance when down to 10 men.
“We’ve played two games so far this season and there’s still a long way to go so anything can happen,” he added.
“That’s been shown over the last years so we’ll focus on ourselves. We don’t read what the others from the outside say about us because nobody knows what’s really going on.
“We worked very hard to try and get three points but unfortunately it didn’t happen. We keep going.
“I think with 10 men we played outstanding. We put them under pressure. Obviously, we took a lot of risks because we had to score the equaliser and were hoping to get the winner.
“But (playing with 10 men) should not happen. Obviously we’re disappointed to draw and not get the win, for sure.”
Liverpool were one man and one goal down against Palace before January signing Luis Diaz scored a brilliant goal to draw them level and rescue a point.
Van Dijk was full of praise for his team-mate: “[Diaz] is an incredible player already so we’ll see what the future brings.
“It’s obviously something we need and he provided that bit of special action and he can be so much better.”
