“We need to turn this around” Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk says after two consecutive defeats

Virgil van Dijk says it may feel like “the world is sinking” after two tough defeats, but he believes the “biggest prize” this season is still achievable for Liverpool.

Arne Slot’s team has had a rough week, losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and then falling to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

Despite this, Liverpool’s captain Van Dijk is determined not to let the team feel sorry for themselves. He believes they still have a chance to win the Premier League. They are currently 12 points ahead of Arsenal with nine games left.

“We have to turn this around,” Van Dijk told reporters after the Wembley match. “It’s how football works: in five days you lose twice and the world is sinking. Two weeks before everything was sunshine and rainbows everywhere.

“The Champions League we couldn’t get it done, this we lost. The FA Cup we got knocked out. We have nine games to go and I don’t think there’s any motivation needed to try to get the job done. You play for the biggest prize that you work so hard for from the start of the season.

“No-one expected us to be challenging for the Premier League. It’s the most difficult prize to get. There’s a lot at stake. There are so many positive and good things to look forward to. We have to work our ass off for it.

“Now everyone goes to their respective countries, play there, hopefully stay fit, and then we get ready for Everton at home (on April 2) which is going to be tough.”

Van Dijk admits Liverpool got what they deserved at Wembley after producing such a poor performance. However, he denied that fatigue was a factor after their energy-sapping European tie with PSG.

“It was difficult, Newcastle obviously were good at what they’re good at. It sounds pretty cliche, maybe, but the aggressiveness, the challenges, drawing fouls, getting set-pieces.

“We gave them the encouragement, the feeling that this could be their night. We were just not good enough and that was very disappointing and hard to take.

“I don’t think there’s any impact (from the defeat to PSG). We had a day off two days after that game to settle down a little bit. They defended well. I think Dan Burn was very good. We didn’t really have the firepower today. Not many clear chances.

“The life of a footballer means tomorrow at 2pm I’ll be in the national team camp and I can’t be sitting there with my face down and everyone looking at me thinking: ‘Are we gonna attack this international break?’

“I’m the captain there as well. It’s a quick turnaround. I’m very disappointed. I really am. It hurts but from tomorrow that’s the life of a football player, you can’t dwell on things too much, especially in the middle of a season. Tomorrow, I’ll focus on facing Spain because I’ve got a quite difficult one on Thursday.”