In the 35th round of the 2024-25 Premier League, Liverpool lost 1-3 to Chelsea. Captain Virgil van Dijk admitted that any failure was painful.

Liverpool won the Premier League title four rounds in advance and made their first league appearance, but lost the game away from home. In this game, Chelsea scored a goal shortly after the start of the game by Enzo Fernandez, and then Van Dijk accidentally hit the ball on his teammate Jarel Kuangsa when clearing the ball, causing an own goal.

Although Van Dijk scored a header in the 85th minute to get back one point, Liverpool still lost to Palmer's penalty kick in stoppage time. In the press conference after the game, Van Dijk said: "We did a good job of controlling the ball, but the pressure when we didn't have the ball was too loose, and the opponent could easily find the open space."

"It's not ideal to lose the ball early, but as long as we can defend well and play at our own pace, we can create opportunities. We did have opportunities today, but overall, the opponent may have deserved the victory more. This is disappointing. We are not here to relax, we are here to win."

In response to outside doubts about whether winning the championship has reduced the desire to win, Van Dijk denied it: "Every professional player wants to win, this is basic professionalism. We have trained very hard in the past few days and everyone is very focused. This is an important game. The opponent is going all out for the Champions League qualification, and so are we."

"Any defeat stings us, especially when you're wearing a Liverpool shirt. We haven't lost many times in the league this season, but that's why today's defeat was particularly painful. And I think this pain is necessary because we are the winners and even if the championship is already decided, we can't accept such a result."