Virgil van Dijk

ATLETICO MADRID boss Diego Simeone has escaped with a one-match ban for his Anfield Champions League red card.

Argentine Simeone was dismissed in the aftermath of Virgil van Dijk‘s stoppage time winner for Liverpool, when he became embroiled in a row with home fans.

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A huge skirmish boiled over when a member of the Atletico staff was accused of spitting and squirting water at Liverpool fans.

But after studying the referee’s and match delegate’s report and video images, Simeone was handed a single game ban for “unsporting conduct”.

It means the former midfielder has been banished from the dressing room and touchline for tonight’s home game with Eintracht Frankfurt.

No action has been taken against the member of the coaching staff, with Uefa seemingly keen to put the matter to bed, although Liverpool were fined £3,500 for fans throwing objects onto the pitch during the game.

Simeone walked out of his post-match press conference in response to a question over whether the insults he had received had been either racist or referred to the 1982 Falklands War.

Before that, the Argentine claimed he had been subjected to “insults for the whole game”.

He said: “Firstly I regret the part I played.

“It’s clear we are in a position where we do not have the right to react and it is not good when we react.

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“My reaction isn’t justifiable but do you know what it is like to be insulted for 90 minutes?

“I saw the third goal go in and I turned, the insults continued, and well, I’m a person.”

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MO SALAH and Alessia Russo shared a hug on the red carpet at the PFA Awards.

The Liverpool star is set to be crowned the PFA Men’s Player of the Year.

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He is one of six players nominated for the award, along with Bruno Fernandes, Alexander Isak, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice and Alexis Mac Allister.

Salah looked stylish on the red carpet in a dark suit and he stopped for an embrace with Arsenal and England Women’s star Russo, who is up for the Women’s PFA Player of the Year.

Russo stunned in a low-cut, ankle-length green dress and had posed for photos before bumping into Salah.

The striker was crowned European champion and club and international level this year, and proved a popular figure on the red carpet.

She was joined on a star-studded carpet by the best players the Premier League and WSL has to offer.

Five other players were nominated for the Women’s PFA Player of the Year – Mariona Caldentey, Erin Cuthbert, Mary Fowler, Yui Hasegawa and Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Rice posed on the red carpet alongside Arsenal team-mates William Saliba and Gabriel.

Another England star, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, was in attendance to pick up his PFA Young Player of the Year award.

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FLORIAN WIRTZ will reportedly pocket a mammoth salary at Liverpool.

The Reds agreed a record Premier League fee for the Bayer Leverkusen and Germany midfielder earlier this week.

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The Merseysiders will pay the 2023/24 Bundesliga champions a whopping £116.5MILION for the 22-year-old.

Liverpool have fended off the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid to land Wirtz, who has reportedly been handed a mammoth five-year contract.

And according to Sky Sports, the German will pocket a whopping £245,000 a week during his Anfield stay.

That works out to a whopping £12.7m a year, a fee which is nearly TWELVE TIMES what he currently earns at the BayArena.

A whooping £10.2m of that figure is guaranteed for the attacking midfielder, who will pocket the remaining £2.5m if individual and team performance targets are met.

Wirtz’s salary will make him the THIRD HIGHEST-PAID player at Anfield ahead of Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac-Allister, Allisson, Ryan Gravenberch, Federico Chiesa, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez.

Only Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who both inked new one-year deals with the Prem champions last season, will earn more than him.

Egyptian Wizard Salah currently takes home a staggering £400,000 a week, which works out to be a jaw-dropping £20,800,000.

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Dutch defender Van Dijk, meanwhile, earns an annual salary of £18,200,000 thanks to his £350,000 weekly wages.

Wirtz will be joined at Anfield by his former Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong.

The Dutch defender became the Reds’ first signing of the summer late last month.

After the completion of his £29.5m move, the 24-year-old said: “Liverpool fans, I’m going to give my all.

“My energy, my work-rate. And hopefully, we can win together, we celebrate together, get everything together.

“I’m just excited to be here. Thank you guys for accepting me.

“And I won’t let you guys down and I’ll give you the energy that you guys want.”

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