Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk challenged Wayne Rooney about the pundit's criticism of his leadership during the team's losing run in an awkward post-match interview following their win over Real Madrid.

Alexis Mac Allister's second-half header sealed a morale-boosting 1-0 Champions League win at Anfield and made it back-to-back victories and clean sheets after Liverpool ended a four-game losing run in the Premier League by beating Aston Villa on Saturday.

When Liverpool were at their lowest, after that crushing loss at Brentford, Rooney had said Van Dijk's body language was a "concern" and questioned if the captain's leadership had suffered after signing a new deal at the end of last season.

Image: Virgil van Dijk said some criticism of Liverpool had been 'over the top'

Van Dijk, standing directly next to Rooney, told Prime in his post-match interview after Liverpool's win that sometimes the outside noise was "over the top" without directly referencing the comments from the Manchester United legend.

He then added: "It would be good if especially ex-players that played at the highest level, that dealt with difficult moments as well, would put a lot of things in perspective."