Virgil van Dijk expresses regret to supporters over Liverpools heavy defeat by Manchester City

Under Arne Slot, the side endured a crushing 4-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, which left Van Dijk enraged by their performance after the break.

They were already 2-0 down at the interval thanks to a pair of goals from Erling Haaland, before conceding right after the restart when Antoine Semenyo scored, and then Haaland added a third to complete his hat trick.

The feeble response from Liverpool led to many of their 8000 travelling supporters heading for the exits long before the end.

Van Dijk admitted his own role in giving away a penalty that Haaland dispatched during the opening period, and as Reds skipper, he insisted the rest of the group must share the responsibility.

"I can only apologise to the fans for what we have shown, especially the second half," he said.

"Obviously you come out with the right intentions from the dressing room, to hopefully score for 2-1 as soon as possible to change the game.

"The opposite happens and to come back from 3-0 is obviously very difficult here - but also you shouldnt give up and thats maybe, at a certain point, what happened.

"We let our fans down, we let ourselves down, and the manager. The way we played in the second half, especially, must hurt for everyone. It definitely hurts me."

This poor outcome has ramped up the scrutiny on Slot before a challenging Champions League quarter final first leg versus Paris Saint-Germain in France come Wednesday.

With dreams of trophies at home ended by City, Liverpool now need to target the Champions League victory and a spot in next years competition.

Encouraging unity in the team as demands increase, Van Dijk commented: "Its a together thing, isnt it? Obviously hes responsible as the manager but we are the ones on the pitch that have to do it.

"The matter of fact is now, PSG are waiting for us. I watched them Friday a little bit. It will be so tough again. So we have to be ready mentally as soon as possible.

"Ive been lucky enough to play for Liverpool for so many years. The main thing we always had was togetherness. Now obviously we are in a little bit of a transition but we have to find it."

Liverpool have a vital Premier League encounter with Fulham sandwiched between their pair of fixtures against PSG, and Van Dijk is calling for better showings from the squad across the upcoming three outings.

"We have a responsibility to ourselves and, especially, to the fans. If we want to make something out of this season, then we have to try and produce something special the next three games," he said.

"Im trying to think how we can turn this round. Weve been going through this almost 75 percent of the season.

"Its a difficult one to take and everyone has to look at themselves."