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Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone was sent off moments after Virgil van Dijk scored a last-minute winner for Liverpool in Wednesday's Champions League clash, after clashing with a fan and appearing to use a rude hand gesture to illustrate what caused his anger as he appealed to officials.
Liverpool was awarded a contentious corner kick in the 92nd minute, as Atleti attempted to salvage a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Dominik Szoboszlai's delivery resulted in a Van Dijk header, which handed Liverpool a 3-2 victory and kept their perfect record intact.
Simeone was furious and was seen pleading with officials after clashing with a Liverpool fan, and was seen producing a rude hand gesture to the fourth official, seemingly remonstrating at what had caused him to lose his cool. The Atleti head coach was then shown a straight red card, meaning he may serve a touchline ban for Madrid's next Champions League clash at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
As Liverpool fans deliriously celebrated Van Dijk's late winner, Simeone was seen being restrained by Anfield security as he confronted a supporter. The Liverpool fan had a wide grin and was cheering while Simeone approached him aggressively.
Simeone was restrained and later headed down the tunnel after being sent off, and Liverpool held on to claim a dramatic victory. After the game, Simeone said: "They insult you all game long behind the bench, and you can't respond because you're the manager.
"My reaction to the insult isn't justifiable, but it's not easy to endure being insulted for 90 minutes. Hopefully, Liverpool can improve, and when they find the person who did it, there will be consequences."
He added: "Insults all game long. And gestures too. I'm the one who has to stay calm, and I have to put up with the gestures, the insults, any situation. Why? Because I'm in a position where I have to put up with it."
Liverpool has won all five games to start the 2025-26 season, and has scored in the final 10 minutes of each game. Though Liverpool left it late again, the game should have been won well before Van Dijk's heroics. Liverpool made a fast start on Wednesday night and were 2-0 up inside eight minutes, with Mohamed Salah responsible for both goals.
Andrew Robertson scored the opener on his return to the starting lineup, as Salah's powerful free kick deflected off the defender and found its way past Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Minutes later, Salah doubled Liverpool's lead after powering past defenders and slotting his shot into the bottom-left corner.
Liverpool had several opportunities to extend the lead, with new signings Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz going close. However, the momentum changed just before half-time as Atleti full-back Marcos Llorente pulled one back with a driven finish into the bottom corner.
Llorente then scored a freak equalizer with nine minutes remaining, as his effort from outside the area took a large deflection. Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was caught out by the movement, and Atleti were back level after being dominated in the first half.
Liverpool then kicked into another gear, and Atleti had all 10 outfield players behind the ball in an attempt to leave Anfield with a precious point. However, captain Van Dijk then showed his class with a powerful header to make it five wins from five games this season.
"We try, we kept pushing for the 3-1," Van Dijk said after the 3-2 win. "We concede the equaliser, massively deflected. It was not great. We found a way again. We were dangerous in our set-pieces anyway, they were pretty aggressive, I must say.
"I'm glad I got the winner. They're a team that never gives up, they have quality players that can punish you if you're not there in a split second, if you're a little bit too late and they punished us before the break and after the break we try to go for the 3-1.
"They get a bit of confidence from that as well. But we have to keep going and show the resilience we've been showing for many years and it was another great European night here again."
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