Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has stood by his remarks about Virgil van Dijk after the Liverpool skipper's fiery rebuttal over the weekend.

The ex-United and England captain had slammed Van Dijk's body language last week following the Premier League loss to Brentford. Liverpool have endured a torrid campaign for large portions, with Saturday's 2-0 win over Aston Villa halting a sequence of four consecutive league losses for the defending English top-flight champions.

Arne Slot's squad had suffered six defeats in their previous seven fixtures across all competitions prior to that victory against Unai Emery's side. Rooney argued that Van Dijk has been short on leadership qualities this season. In reply, the Dutch defender said, following Saturday's 2-0 victory over Aston Villa, that he considered the critical comments to be "lazy".

"Well, I didn't hear him last year," Van Dijk said, when asked about Rooney's words. "It doesn't hurt me, to be honest, I feel like, just to come back to this particular player, and this...