The Reds won 1-0 in the Champions League against Real Madrid on Tuesday (04.11.25) to register back-to-back victories but the defender admits that it was hard to ignore the outside noise during the team's recent run of six defeats in seven matches.

Van Dijk told Prime Video Sport: "It is easy to say now because we won twice in a row - in a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things.

"At times the noise was a lot. It’s very important to put things into perspective, get your head down and work."

The Dutch international was singled out for criticism by former Manchester United ace Wayne Rooney recently and called for him and other pundits to "put things in perspective" when it comes to judging situations.

Van Dijk said of the outside criticism: "For me personally it doesn't affect me but as a captain I am dealing with players that might be affected by it.

"Of course, if you lose four or five games in a row as a Liverpool player, that [criticism] is fair. It is normal in that sense.

"It's over the top at times as well, but that is because we live in a world where there are so many platforms, so many people can say stuff and will be picked up and made bigger than what it is.

"I think it would be good for ex-players that played at the highest level that dealt with difficult moments to put things in perspective."

Rooney was on punditry duty at the game and felt his critique was "fair," but he praised Van Dijk and the Premier League champions for reacting to their bad run with wins.

He said: "When you win the Premier League, I think what I said was fair. You don’t expect Liverpool to lose four games in a row.

"I think the response has been great from Virgil and the team."