Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool 'found a way again' after scoring late winner in Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid
Published 17/09/2025 at 23:38 GMT+1
Liverpool left it late once again as Virgil van Dijk scored a stoppage-time winner in their 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday night. Van Dijk hailed Liverpool as a team that "never gives up" as they kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign in ideal fashion. The Reds head coach Arne Slot was pleased with the fitness levels of Alexander Isak, who made his debut.
Van Dijk outlines how Liverpool 'found a way' to beat 'aggressive' Atleti
Video credit: TNT Sports
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk hailed his team as one that "never gives up" after his stoppage-time winner gave them a 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid at Anfield.
Arne Slot's team have won all four Premier League games so far this season with late goals, and they repeated the trick in their UEFA Champions League opener on Wednesday night.
"It's a team that never gives up," Van Dijk told TNT Sports on the pitch after the game.
"Listen, I think we tried, we kept pushing for the 3-1 and obviously to concede an equaliser, a deflection, a massive deflection, was obviously not great.
"But we found a way again. I think we were dangerous with set pieces. They were pretty aggressive, I must say, and I'm glad I got the winner.
"They [Atletico] have quality players that can punish you if you're not there in a split second. If you're a little bit too late, they will punish you.
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Highlights: Van Dijk heads late winner as Simeone sees red
Video credit: TNT Sports
"After the break we tried to go for the 3-1, but obviously they get a bit of confidence from that.
"Eventually you have to keep going and we showed the resilience we've been showing for so many years. Another great European night here again.
"I think we have showed many times that we are capable of doing it. Today I was the lucky one with the winner and we move on."
Liverpool have had a dream start to this 2025/26 season. They top the early Premier League table with those four victories from four matches and have now had the ideal start in their attempts to win a seventh Champions League title.
"It's always good to get off to a winning start, playing at home against a good opponent. Another game ticked off," Van Dijk added.
"Three points. And what is it, two-and-a-half days we're back here, live on your channel, so we have to be ready for that as well. I'm looking forward to it."
Van Dijk was referring to Saturday's derby meeting with Everton at Anfield, which is live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
The Dutchman was generally in a talkative mood, but he only had one word to say when asked by TNT's Jules Breach whether he had any concerns about the team defensively.
"No" was the very simple answer.
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Virgil van Dijk heads Liverpool's late winner against Atletico Madrid at Anfield
Image credit: Getty Images
Slot: Our mentality was key to victory
Liverpool head coach Slot praised his team's mental strength after their dramatic victory over Atletico.
"If you're going to beat a team like Atletico, which is known and has an unbelievable mentality, you have to beat them with their weapon as well, which is mentality," Slot told TNT Sports.
"And I think we showed that today. We showed that we can beat them also with mentality.
"But we should have made it easier for ourselves. At 2-0 in the first half, we had more than a few chances, at 2-1, we hit the post. We were so close a few times, but when the margin is only one goal, something can always happen and it happened.
"But then again we showed the mentality, we were pushing, pushing, pushing and in the end we scored a set-piece goal.
"If we feel urgency, then we are unbelievable, and now we need to make sure we feel the urgency for 90 minutes, don't even look at the score, just feel this urgency every second."
Alexander Isak made his debut for Liverpool after joining from Newcastle at the end of the summer transfer window.
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Isak 'fitter than I expected' and a 'joy to watch' - Slot
Video credit: TNT Sports
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Slot admitted he was particularly pleased with what he saw from Isak at Anfield.
"Yeah, particularly because in the 60 minutes he played he seemed to be quite fit to me," Slot added.
"It wasn't as if after 10 minutes he was already very tired. He could play at this level quite well after one or two weeks of team sessions.
"So that was the most positive thing and then he can play football and that he's a joy to watch and that is not a surprise to me.
"He was fitter than I expected, but the fans can't get their hopes too high. We play three times a week and that's a bit too much for him still.
"We have two great No. 9s and we're going to use both of them throughout the whole period that they are here, but definitely now at this time."
Stream the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Serie A and Men's and Women's FA Cup and more on TNT Sports and discovery+.
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