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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says he has spoken with Mohamed Salah after the forward's explosive interview at the weekend, but the Reds ace was keen to focus more on an important Champions League victory over Inter Milan.
Dominik Szoboszlai's late penalty secured a major boost for Arne Slot after a tricky spell was made even harder by Salah's comments. Liverpool's players came together and put in an improved performance at the San Siro that was deserving of the three points.
"It's difficult, but it's a collective difficult situation that we're all in," Van Dijk said live on Amazon Prime Video. "Between Mo and the club, things are going on. He's not here today; that's the reality, but I don't think anything has changed in terms of our focus and determination.
"I'm not the one to speak if someone has to apologize. It's him airing his feelings for the past couple of days. That's something the club has to deal with, obviously, me as well.
"But the focus was there; nothing else changed. He trained as well. The reality also is that Mo is going to Africa (AFCON) soon.
"I've known him for such a long time, we are good friends and have been through highs and lows. We speak and those types of things will stay indoors as it should be."
The last few weeks have been difficult for Liverpool in terms of performances and results, but this was a step in the right direction. Van Dijk is keen to build on that with the visit of Brighton at the weekend.
"We have to brace ourselves and be against the outside noise," he said. "The most important thing is that you speak with each other.
"You have to recover and get back to Brighton already. You have to celebrate good moments and enjoy them; otherwise, what's the point of winning?
"We stay overnight here, we have to sleep well and eat well. We try to never get too high or too low."
On this occasion, Liverpool was much more solid than it has been of late, which was the platform for success. Szoboszlai's late winner came in part because of the clean sheet kept at the other end.
"Against Leeds for 60 minutes as well but when you don't win and concede easy goals like we have done," Van Dijk said.
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"We try to find consistency but we know they are very comfortable on the ball. Everyone put a shift in and run so hard. It could have been 0-0 but we take the three points and move on.
"It's a good feeling of winning. Especially in a period we are in, trying to find consistency and something to build on.
"Hopefully, tonight is one of those performances. It was always going to be tough. We handled the game well. It could have been a 0-0 game in the end but it ended positively for us in the end.
"It doesn't change anything. There's obviously so much noise from the outside world, which is normal when you don't perform. It's deserved as well.
"We want to improve, we want to be consistent and win games. We're not doing it as much as we like. We have to stick together and be a unit as we have been. That's what Liverpool stands for."
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