Micah Richards blames Virgil van Dijk after "strange" decision in Man Utd opener

Liverpool central defender Virgil van Dijk was the subject of intense criticism from former Manchester City defender-turned-pundit Micah Richards during the Reds trip to Manchester United.

Jurgen Klopp's side started slowly at Old Trafford and found themselves 1-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes after Jadon Sancho's remarkably composed finish handed the hosts the lead.

The former Borussia Dortmund man picked the ball up inside the area before selling both goalkeeper Alisson Becker and James Milner a delightful dummy and calmly slotting his effort home.

The goal sparked wild celebrations from the home fans, but also prompted a very public dressing down of Van Dijk dished out to him by teammate Milner. In the aftermath, Richards issued his own scathing assessment of the Dutchman while covering the game on BBC 5Live.

"I am looking at a clip now and seeing some afters between Milner and Van Dijk," the ex-City star explained. "Sancho had three or four seconds in the box to pick where he is going to put it and Van Dijk is just stood with his arms behind his back - that is so unlike Van Dijk.

"He is normally so dominant, he reads the game so well and would get out to Sancho but he is in acres of space and I know people will talk about Milner and how he got sat down in the box but Van Dijk literally just stands there.

"It is such strange defending, we all know Van Dijk he has had his injuries and they are a way better team when he is in the side but some of these mistakes are so uncharacteristic from him and I just can't believe what I'm seeing from such a world-class defender. It's so strange to see."

Liverpool were slow out of the traps at Old Trafford which only increased the optimism among the United players and fans