Virgil van Dijk learns his fate as Newcastle’s red card penalty is confirmed

The additional penalty relates to Van Dijk’s reaction to referee John Brooks’ decision after he confronted the referee following the incident.

There were suggestions that the Dutchman’s aggressive behavior towards the referee could lead to a longer ban, but the FA have decided to impose a hefty fine and an additional match ban is an appropriate punishment. He will miss Liverpool’s game against Wolves next weekend.

An FA statement: “The defender admitted he behaved inappropriately and used abusive and insulting words towards a match official following his sending off in the 29th minute.”

“The sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent regulatory commission. The full written reasons for this case will be published in due course.”

Van Dijk spoke to reporters in Holland during the international break about the incident and admitted the incident with the referee was “out of character”.

“That wasn’t typical of me,” he said.

“It was a red card anyway. I’ve never gotten one at Liverpool and I think only four times in my entire career. But otherwise I still started the season well.”

Referee boss Howard Webb spoke to Michael Owen about the Van Dijk incident in his new analysis show and stressed that the referees made the right decision.

“We believe it is a good identification of a foul by John Brooks, the referee. We see at the end van Dijk plays the ball but to get there he clearly goes through the foot of Alexander Isak,” Webb said.

“Not only is it a free kick, but it also denies Isak an obvious chance to score. He is close to the goal, he will be able to control the ball quite easily, there is no cover from the defenders and of course we know that the direction is towards the goal.” .

“Van Dijk is not protected by the fact that if that had happened in the penalty area it would have been a yellow card for trying to play the ball or challenging the ball. It’s outside the penalty area, so it’s still. It has to be a red card.