Alisson’s gesture highlights Liverpool’s unity amid Salah’s suspension
The club’s post-match footage is up X showed Virgil van Dijk tapping the badge on his chest towards the traveling support after completing his media duties at San Siro.
A little earlier, inside Amazon Prime Video Sport live interview with Andy RobertsonAlisson was seen applauding the away side before punching his chest in almost identical fashion.
Those actions may seem small, but after the most turbulent week of the 47-year-old head coach’s reign at Liverpool, they meant everything.
Mo Salah was left at home following his public comments following the 3–3 draw at Leeds, comments that earned him a temporary ban from team activities.
It forced senior figures to answer questions all week, including the Brazilian goalkeeper, who had already said so “As Liverpool players we want the best for the club” when speaking about the situation during his pre-match press duties.
That pressure could have easily overwhelmed the team, but the victory in Italy told a very different story.
After the match our boss appreciated the end “Being there for each other” and fighting through difficult circumstances, something he said was crucial in keeping the group focused.
The unity he talked about was exactly what we saw in Milan with the captain and the goalkeeper.
Liverpool wins again without Salah as Slot thinks about the next step
Skipper 👏 pic.twitter.com/9EglOOjuCT
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 9, 2025
The result showed how professional we were: Dominik Szoboszlai’s penalty in the 88th minute ended an 18-match unbeaten Champions League home run for the Italian team.
We had lost six of the last seven with the Egyptian striker involved, yet we are unbeaten in four without him starting – with only a bizarre deflection against Sunderland and a self-inflicted collapse at Elland Road preventing us from taking maximum points.
Inter’s long unbeaten run, two clean sheets in four games and a bounce back in the fight for qualification all show one thing: the team is still fighting for the Dutchman, regardless of how the relationship between the Egyptian-born striker and the manager feels at the moment.
It remains sad that supporters are almost forced to choose a side, Salah or Slot, while nights like this show that the club must unite and not drift apart.
The gestures of Van Dijk and Alisson made it clear that the dressing room is together, a message that will matter as we enter Brighton.
The question now is whether the Egyptian will be reinstated into the squad before AFCON or whether another omission will bring him closer to a permanent exit.
What is certain is that Unity won this match and the signs from Milan suggest we are getting back to where we expect to be.
You can watch Slot’s press conference after Inter Milan via Kingdom of the Kop on YouTube:
Join our readers channel on WhatsApp to receive the most important stories of the day directly on your mobile
#Van #Dijk #Alisson #repeat #gesture #Liverpool #fans #Milan