Van Dijk to fury PSG director: "This is not Ligue 1, brother"

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk responded to PSG's sporting director, Luis Campos, in the tunnel during halftime at Parc des Princes in yesterday’s match. As the teams headed back to their locker rooms, the Parisians were furious with Italian referee Davide Massa for not giving Ibrahima Konate a straight red card.

Konate was involved in a challenge with Bradley Barcola, where he pushed him with his elbow on the edge of the penalty area, knocking down his national teammate. However, referee Massa simply waved play on. The controversy didn’t stop there—VAR reviewed the incident but saw nothing wrong with it.

Still, PSG’s sporting director took the halftime break as an opportunity to voice his frustration, saying: "It's a red card or a penalty, in every part of the world."

Liverpool’s center-back Van Dijk was quick to respond: "Come on, this is not Ligue 1, brother."

Campos was not satisfied and continued his protests.

"Red card or penalty in every part of football!"

Players from both teams were asked for their thoughts on the situation. PSG midfielder Vitinha remained neutral.

"The foul on Barcola? It was difficult to see. I can't talk without seeing it, and we're not going to hide behind that."

On the other hand, the main man in the controversy, Konate, was certain there was no foul:

"There was a VAR check. If there was a push, like you said, I would have been shown a red card. I’m telling you there wasn’t a foul. It’s true that I am very strong, but I don’t apply power, I just put my arm. If I had put a lot more power into it, then we could talk about it, but it was soft for me."

Crime and Punishment in Paris! Miss criminally, and you'll be penalized!

One thing is clear—despite dominating most of the game, PSG failed to score and instead conceded a goal. Harvey Elliott found the net late in the match, putting Liverpool in a strong position ahead of the second leg at Anfield.