Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has been handed an additional one-match ban and a £100,000 fine following his red card and referee outburst at Newcastle.
Van Dijk was dismissed for a foul on Alexander Isak in the first half at St James’ Park on 27th August.
But instead of departing the Dutchman refused to leave the pitch before remonstrating with referee John Brooks.
Due to the red card, he missed a game in the 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, before heading into international break.
He was set to return into action for Liverpool’s trip to Wolves. But he is now set to miss that fixture as the FA announced an extra game ban on the defender for his improper behavior.
Van Dijk ban extended due to an incident during the Liverpool-Newcastle game
A statement was released by the FA supporting their decision.
“Virgil van Dijk has been suspended for one match and fined £100,000 for breaching FA Rule E3.1 during Liverpool’s Premier League fixture against Newcastle.
The defender admitted that he acted in an improper manner and used abusive and insulting words towards a match official after being sent off in the 29th minute, and the sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent regulatory commission.”
Van Dijk told Dutch reporters following the Netherlands‘ win over Greece on Thursday that it was out of character.
“That was not typical for me. But it was the red card anyway. I’ve never got one before at Liverpool, and I think only about four times in my entire career. But apart from that I still started the season well.”
Former referee shares his view
Moreover, former PL referee Dermot Gallagher also shared his view on the incident.
“I think it’s a foul. Has he got an obvious goalscoring opportunity? Is he in possession of the ball. Yes, there’s no doubt about that.
Will he have a clear run on goal? Well, once he gets the ball he’s going to move towards the goal. Is he outside the penalty area? Yes, so the referee has to send him off.
He gets the ball but he gets the man first, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think anybody can dispute it’s a foul.
It depends on what the referee reports. There’s no doubt about it that he took a long time to leave the field so we’d have to wait to see what the referee had written about the incident on his report which goes to the FA, and that gets cleared up then.”
It is to be seen how the Reds would manage without their captain for a trip to Molineux.
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