Van Dijk says ban and fine hard lesson to learn

Virgil van Dijk said his sending-off for Liverpool, and extended suspension, had been a hard lesson learnt but he now wants to put a line under it.

The new club captain was sent off early in last month’s 2-1 Premier League win at Newcastle United, delivering a volley of abuse towards the referee as he left the pitch.

He was charge by the Football Association with improper conduct and on Friday had an extra game added to his mandatory one-match ban, which he served when Liverpool beat Aston Villa last weekend.

Van Dijk, away on national team duty with the Netherlands, will also miss Liverpool’s home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers next Saturday.

"It is a hard and expensive lesson but I don’t want to say much more. I have accepted it and I am happy that there is now a line under it," he told a press conference in Dublin on Saturday on the eve of the European qualifier against Ireland.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)