Liverpool and England legendary captain Steven Gerrard, in an interview with This Anfield, the news website run by Liverpool's official supporters' organization, on Tuesday, harshly criticized his former club's current captain, Virgil van Dijk, for publicly stating that "the team has given up on playing against Manchester City," as lacking the qualities expected of a Liverpool captain.

Gerrard harshly criticized and said that the team should seize every opportunity to do their best and try to win every game, instead of giving up at the first sign of trouble. He added that surrendering so easily which led to a complete defeat is truly awful.

Gerrard further stated that as Liverpool captain, "we've given up" should not be something any player in the club should say, either on or off the pitch, especially not Van Dijk, who is the team's leader. He expressed deep concern about the attitude and comments of Van Dijk and his teammates.

Gerrard said, "They've had many opportunities, but they didn't take them. I think we all know that in big games, you have to seize the opportunity when it comes." 

"Manchester City's performance was impeccable; they played brilliantly throughout the game, but the way Liverpool collapsed was truly worrying."

"Even more shocking were the players' post-match comments, saying 'we have no fighting spirit,' 'we gave up.'"

"At Liverpool, this kind of thing is absolutely unacceptable on the pitch, and it's absolutely unspeakable off the pitch."

"It's a truly worrying time, I must say, a truly worrying time."

Coincidentally, Chloe, host of Redmen TV, the official YouTube channel for the fan organization, also echoed Gerrard's criticism.

She said: "Think about that night in Istanbul in 2005 when Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and everyone else, with the team down 3-0, chose to 'give up' like Virgil, saying 'no need to fight anymore,' 'give up the fight,' and we wouldn't have had that miracle, and wouldn't have won our fifth Champions League trophy." 

"Try to put yourself in the fans' shoes. If Steven and everyone else had also 'given up,' I think the fans in the stadium would have been utterly disappointed. No fan wants to see their team and players lose their fighting spirit, failing to give their all to turn the tide and win."

"However, they didn't. They professionally completed one miraculous comeback after another, which is the spirit Liverpool has always upheld. I think Steven absolutely has reason to be disappointed by Virgil and Dominik Szoboszlai's post-match comments, saying that 'we gave up the fight.'" 

Liverpool suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat in their FA Cup quarter-final match against Manchester City last weekend.

After the game, Szoboszlai faced heavy criticism for deliberately provoking Liverpool fans who booed and left early.

Virgil van Dijk drew even wider criticism for his post-match interview, where he said, "You shouldn't give up, but maybe in a way, that's what happened."

Image source: Internet / This is Anfield