‘Don’t do anything silly!’ – Premier League release VAR audio from Virgil van Dijk Liverpool red card

The audio of the red card decision of Virgil Van Dijk against Newcastle United is finally out and it may cause an extension of his suspension.

The Reds played the first 4 games and won 3 of them while drawing only one. And the most exciting win was against Newcastle United for the drama involved in it.

The Magpies got into an early lead from Anthony Gordon’s goal. Thereafter, Darwin Nunez turned the match around in the last 15 minutes of the game.

But the highlight of that game was captain Virgil Van Dijk’s send-off. The red card decision was a complicated one because of the technicality involved in it.

However, the decision was not overturned and the latest scoop tells us why.

Van Dijk and the red card incident

The audio of the decision was broadcast on Sky Sports’ “Match Officials: Mic’d Up“, hosted by Michael Owen and featuring Howard Webb.

The match officials Stuart Attwell and John Brooks had a back-and-forth conversation about the incident to confirm whether it was an offense worth suspension.

Attwell began the conversation on VAR by saying,

“APP (Attacking Possession Phase). Possible offside. Possible DOGSO (denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity).”

Referee Brooks responded with,

“It’s outside [the box], outside, outside. And it’s a red card. He’s through and he’s gone through the man, red card.”

VAR: “Delay, delay. Just checking mate.”

Brooks: “No. He comes through the man. He comes through the man, through the man to play the ball.”

VAR: “OK, can you shift it? Have you got another angle on point of contact, please. OK, it’s a clear foul. Brooksy, it’s Stuart, I’m happy with the foul. I’m just going to check sanction and APP, standby. Ok, so I’m happy with that being… .freeze it there, freeze it there. OK, so the ball’s going to roll across the front of him. Without the moving challenge, the attacker’s got position. He’s moving directly into the penalty area, that’s fine.”

Brooks (speaking directly to Van Dijk): “They will check [the decision]. And he’s not, he’s going inside. They will check, they will check. Just wait! I will tell you if you need to go and you need to go immediately. It’s clearly a foul, they have just checked the location. Don’t do anything silly. Listen you will be sent off, unless he [Isak] is offside. It is very, very tight. Free-kick. Go, go! Go now. Yes, no offside.”

Suspension might extend

After Van Djik was told to leave the field, he responded that Brooks’ decision was a,

“F***ing joke.”

Webb commented on the whole event,

“When that happens outside the penalty area, even if the defender is trying to play the ball, which van Dijk was, the fact he committed a foul means he has to be sent off in this circumstance. It’s quite a clear situation.”

His suspension can be extended for verbally abusing the referee. And now Klopp might have to play without him for the next few games.