Wirtz disagrees with VVD's 'gave up' criticism after Man City FA Cup rout

Liverpool attacker Florian Wirtz does "not agree directly" with captain Virgil van Dijk's belief that they gave up in their FA Cup humiliation at Manchester City.

Reds boss Arne Slot also questioned Van Dijk's criticism, claiming he "didn't see players giving up" in the 4-0 quarter-final loss at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Slot and Wirtz were speaking ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain - another daunting game for Liverpool with the in-form holders having scored 15 goals in their last four games.

Liverpool were 2-0 down at half-time at Man City, but conceded just five minutes after the restart, raising questions once again over their ability to handle setbacks.

Van Dijk said after the game on Saturday: "To come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here - but also you shouldn't give up and that's maybe, at a certain point, what happened."

Asked about Van Dijk's criticism ahead of the PSG clash, Wirtz said at a pre-match press conference: "I didn't know about this, that he said this. But I think I would not agree directly because we still tried to create chances to turn the game around.

"Of course, when the game gets longer, and it is in the 80th minute, and you are 3-0 down, it is mentally difficult to go and go and go.

"We just tried to give our best in the game - also when it was 3-0 or 4-0. I think we also had a few chances then. This is not our standards that we lose 4-0 to City. We wanted to go through the round. Next year, we should go better and be better on the pitch."

Slot was then questioned on Van Dijk's comments, and he replied: "Sometimes in a game of football you want to do things in a certain way, but you are not able to for various reasons.

"But one of them can definitely be conceding goals when you think you are playing well and are in the game. Usually in football, moments that hurt you the most are just before half-time and just after half-time.

"Immediately after half-time, we conceded the third, then I saw indeed five minutes where it was too open, and players were struggling.

"The good thing for us was that after 4-0, City seemed to be okay with that, and we had constant ball possession - they were not able to create that much anymore.

"But I didn't see players giving up in that part of the game, but I think it is also good for a captain to have a strong and firm reaction after a game like that.

"And hopefully it is not only immediately after the game, but we as a team can show a strong and firm reaction tomorrow evening."

More to follow...