Virgil van Dijk relieved after late Riyad Mahrez pen miss

Virgil van Dijk has admitted that he was relieved to see Riyad Mahrez sky a late penalty as Liverpool claimed a point from their goalless stalemate with Manchester City at Anfield.

The Dutch defender was guilty of giving away a spot kick five minutes from time for his challenge on Leroy Sane in Sunday's top-of-the-table clash.

Mahrez fluffed his lines from 12 yards, however, with that proving to be the only major opportunity for either side in a contest that failed to live up to its pre-match billing.

Van Dijk believes that a 0-0 draw was the correct result in the end, telling Sky Sports News: "It is not smart to dive in there. It was a penalty and it shouldn't have happened, but I'm very happy we didn't concede.

"They did well, as did we, up until the penalty moment. We were unlucky not to score, and lucky not to concede as well, so I think we cancelled each other out.

"It was a tough game against the champions and I'm happy we kept the clean sheet. We wanted to bounce back from our defeat to Napoli and I think we did that."

Man City and Liverpool join Chelsea on 20 points apiece at the top of the Premier League, with the Citizens leading the way on goal difference.