Liverpool ace Virgil van Dijk furious after Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch interrupt warm-up

An angry Virgil van Dijk has ordered Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch and the rest of BT Sport's pundit team to back down after interrupting the Liverpool defender's pre-match warm-up exercise with Joe Gomez before kick-off against Nottingham Forest. The Dutchman practiced heading with his centre-back partner, but the space they worked in seemed limited by the positioning of the pundits, as they stood on the halfway line to preview the game.

Van Dijk quickly made his presence known, waving his hand ordering them to return as it was apparently impacting his preparations for the competition.

Most of the BT Sport team - which also included Lynsey Hipgrave and Karen Carney - had their backs to the action, meaning they didn't actually know they were causing a slight offense.< /p>

Ferdinand had just said a brief hello to Van Dijk, but moments later noticed the centre-back's body language and told his colleagues to change, sensing the £75million star's frustration .

Van Dijk waved his arms again to push the BT Sport team back and his facial expression suggested he wasn't the happiest with the antics.

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"Virgile wants us to go up a little, let's go up a little", said Ferdinand.

"The centre-halves are doing their job guys! Crouchy, in a minute, come up and put one on him."

Crouch jokingly replied, "He overpowered me many times, I have to be honest!"

Ferdinand has a good relationship with Van Dijk, a player for whom he has openly shared his admiration on several occasions during his career.

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However, the former Manchester United centre-back came under fire earlier in the season when Van Dijk appeared to take offense to Liverpool's heavy criticism in the media following the 4-1 Champions League defeat against Napoli.

Van Dijk said after Liverpool responded with a win over Ajax at Anfield: "We know last week was unacceptable, very bad and we tried to make it right. It's a step in the right direction, don't get carried away because we've played so many games. Now we have to focus on the national teams or the break and then crack."

Which Ferdinand replied, when asked about it by Jake Humphrey: "If I thought it was fake or personal, I'd get the bump.

“If it was deserved, I'd raise my hand and say. deserved the reviews we received". But I think we reiterated that night, we weren't saying they became a bad team overnight or bad players, it was a bad performance."

Liverpool travel to Nottingham Forest after back-to-back 1-0 wins at Anfield over Manchester City and West Ham.

Van Dijk has been a mainstay at the back for the Reds despite a disappointing start to the campaign which saw his own performances questioned.

Jurgen Klopp's side were without Darwin Nunez and Thiago Alcantara for the visit to the City Ground in a double blow for the Reds.

The Uruguayan has a tight hamstring - first felt in the midweek win over West Ham in which he scored the winner - while Thiago has missed out on an ear infection.< /p>