Van Dijk refuses shirt swap in tunnel cam footage after Liverpool beat West Ham

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk had to turn down West Ham United's Tomas Soucek after the midfielder asked for his shirt in the Anfield tunnel.

The tunnel camera footage was published after the Reds' hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Hammers on Monday night.

The thrilling match saw West Ham lead 2-1 in the second-half – raising questions of whether Liverpool's unbeaten league season could come to an end at their own stadium – but the Reds prevailed thanks to goals by Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

And Van Dijk, who already looked angry at a performance in which Liverpool conceded two goals against a side in the relegation zone, shrugged off Soucek's request for his shirt.

The footage , which starts at 12 minutes 11 seconds, sees the Dutchman walking down the tunnel only to be asked "Virgil! Can I get your shirt?"

But Soucek looked disappointed to hear van Dijk say "I've already given it to him," while pointing to Pablo Fornals and then swapping shirts with him.

It summed up an unfortunate evening for Soucek, as the January loan signing from Slavia Prague went off injured and is now out for three weeks with a hip injury.

After the incident in the tunnel, Van Dijk spoke about the victory which saw Liverpool extend their lead at the Premier League summit back to 22 points.

"Not being nervous, that is the main thing," he said. "Keep going and keep playing and keep pressing. There will be moments when the opponent is going to have problems if we keep doing the same thing.

"They (West Ham) were a little bit better in the second half than the beginning, they played quite well but I think not being nervous is the main thing."

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