Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk admitted relief after seeing off Manchester City’s fight back for their FA Cup semifinal win.

The Reds saw off City’s late surge to win 3-2.

Van Dijk said: “We made it very difficult for ourselves in the end. We created a chance to finish the game. When they scored their first goal quite early in the second half it gives them a boost but overall we are happy to go to the final.

“It is about scoring goals and that is what we did in the first half. A perfect first half in that case but we pay City, the champions of England at the moment and it is always going to be tough.

“There are moments you will have to suffer. You have to show a lot of strength and togetherness. It was intense like the previous game against each other but we should have killed the game off.

“We go to the final now, we haven’t won anything at the moment but it is a big step for us as a group. It is the only trophy we didn’t win so we will give it a go.”

On Ibrahima Konate, he added: “He has made a great impact, he is working hard every day. He has to perform when he is called upon and he is doing just that.”