Virgil van Dijk's nightmare first half threatened to play Liverpool into trouble against Villarreal before the Reds staged a superb comeback to win 4-3 in the Champions League

Virgil van Dijk admitted he would take “take that on the chin” after his nightmare first-half performance against Villarreal.

The Liverpool captain made a series of errors which threatened to play his side into trouble in the Champions League, with the visitors taking a surprise 2-0 lead at Anfield on Tuesday.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Ronald Araujo would see the Reds draw level just before the break, before Mac Allister struck again following great work from Rio Ngumoha, and Florian Wirtz rounded things off as Liverpool eventually came out 4-3 winners to maintain its perfect start to the league phase.

It was far from the ideal start for Van Dijk though, whose uncharacteristically error-strewn performance had Andoni Iraola staring down the barrel of a first European defeat.

The warning signs were there during the opening few moments when Georges Mikautadze failed to capitalize on a Van Dijk mistake at the back, with Jeremy Jacquet able to win the ball back and spare his captain’s blushes.

There was nothing he could do shortly after though when Van Dijk attempted to head the ball back to goalkeeper Alisson Becker, only to send it into the path of Mikautadze, who made no mistake this time as he fired Villarreal into the lead.

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Things would get worse as Liverpool’s lackluster efforts saw Sergi Cardona double the lead before the half-hour mark, managing to beat the offside trap as Kostas Tsimikas was caught too deep.

Thankfully for the Reds’ sake, they would claw back two goals before half-time before completing the turnaround after the break, and leave Van Dijk more than a little relieved.

The Liverpool captain took to Instagram after the win to post a picture of himself with his head in his hands alongside a message. “Not my best start to the game,” he posted, along with a grimacing emoji.

“I take that on the chin. Incredible response from the team. Proud of the boys!”

The comeback will come as a relief to Iraola as well, who still has just the one defeat to his name since taking over as Liverpool head coach, and looks to be well on course to lead his side into the Champions League’s knockout stage in the New Year.

“We’ve probably started too relaxed in the game and even at the end, the 4-2. You think it’s done and they keep you there until the end, because they are a very good team,” Iraola said on his side’s performance.

“I value the three points a lot because we were facing a really good team today. I knew because I know them very well and I know how good they are and that’s the reason why I give importance and value to this win.”