Virgil van Dijk apologises for five-word outburst after Liverpool beat Chelsea

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk has admitted he regrets a comment he made after winning the Carabao Cup against Chelsea.

With his winners' medal around his neck, he said: «They thought I was finished!» Some people saw this as a response to those who had doubted him in the previous season, reports the Liverpool Echo.

But now, Van Dijk says he shouldn't have responded to his critics like that. «I shouldn't have said that,» Van Dijk admitted. «Because I don't want to have the wrong intentions. That was part of the emotion coming out of me because there were so many emotions going through my whole body that day.»

Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley last month. Van Dijk scored the winning goal with a header after having an earlier goal ruled out.

The Dutchman added: «Last season was disappointing. Not disappointing in a way that I was bad, I didn't feel like that at all, I was just below my standards and the consistency wasn't there that I have had and set for myself in each and every game

»I fully understand the noise that came with it but I am a human being and not immune to any of that, so there was a bit of emotion that day but I shouldn’t have said that [to the camera].

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«Maybe in one way it was good to say because it gets it out of me, but I don’t like noise around me. I like to play the game. Positive noise is fine but I just want to be my best version on the pitch and be the best I can because things have been going very well this season personally and big credit to all the team given the obstacles we had