Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk lashed out at referee Stuart Attwell for not handing a second yellow card to Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Bergvall. The 18-year-old Bergvall scored the winning goal for the Lilywhites in the 86th minute.

Meanwhile, earlier in the game, the youngster had received a yellow card for his foul on Luiz Diaz. The Swede then played advantage after a late tackle on  Kostas Tsimikas but Attwell didn’t send him off.

“It was quite obvious there was gonna be a second yellow,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports after the game.

“It was pretty clear, and then a minute later he scores the winner. Listen, it is what it is. [The referee] made a mistake in my opinion and I told him that. He thinks he didn’t. It was quite obvious and everyone on the sideline knew it.

“There’s a linesman there, there’s a fourth official, there’s VAR … and he doesn’t get a second yellow. I’m not saying this is the reason we lost, but it was a big moment in the game.”

The Reds took seven shots on target but failed to find the back of the net. The Dutch defender admitted they could not grab their chances.

“We played against an intense team with good attacking players who keep running and make it difficult,” he said. “We created opportunities — not really clear-cut chances in my opinion, but enough that we could have scored.

“At times we could have done better. That’s part of football. At times we played through them nicely, but they were able to defend much better than when we were here a couple of weeks ago.”

Head coach Arne Slot concurred with Van Dijk’s comments, saying: “The decision he [the referee] made had a lot of impact on the result tonight.”

Liverpool will next take on Accrington Stanley in the third round of the FA Cup at Anfield on Saturday.