Liverpool players will be hoping to be up for some awards for their efforts during the 2024/25 season.
After a term in which they finished third in the Premier League and won the Carabao Cup last time, the Reds were notable by their absence at this year’s awards ceremonies.
The FIFA The Best ceremony took place on Tuesday and no Liverpool players were anywhere close to winning anything or indeed being named in the team of the year.
Captain Virgil van Dijk was perhaps the closest member of the Liverpool squad to making it in after another stellar personal year at Anfield.
But while the FIFA awards were ongoing in Doha, Van Dijk lent his attention to a different ceremony: the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
And after seeing cyclist Mark Cavendish pick up a lifetime achievement gong on the night, the Liverpool centre-back was surprisingly seen giving a video address to Cavendish.
Virgil van Dijk salutes Mark Cavendish
Cavendish was not on this year’s six-person shortlist to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
There was one footballer on there, with Real Madrid and England’s Jude Bellingham somehow sneaking his way on.
In the end the winner was Olympic 800m gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson, with darts player Luke Littler coming second and cricketer Joe Root in third.
But after seeing him pick up the lifetime achievement award, it was Cavendish who got a personal message from Van Dijk.
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“Yes Cav, it’s Virgil here!” said the 33-year-old. “I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you on winning the BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award. It is an incredible achievement, one that I’m sure you’ll be very proud of and your family will be very proud of too.
“It’s a true reward for the legacy you have created, not just in cycling but across the whole of sport and is a testament to your simply remarkable career, spending 20 years at the very highest level,” Virgil added.
“You have achieved it all, you have won everything there is to win again and again and you are the true GOAT of cycling in my opinion.”
Is Mark Cavendish a Liverpool fan?
Although it’s nice to see Van Dijk commemorating the achievements of fellow sports men and women, we did not expect to see him pop up here.
The Dutchman does not appear to have a particular connection to Cavendish, nor does Cavendish have a history with Liverpool.
In fact, as per a post on X (formerly Twitter) back in 2013, the 39-year-old admitted that he was a Leeds fan growing up.
Born on the Isle of Man and with no local professional team to support, Cavendish replied to a post about coming to watch Harrogate Town during the Tour de France in 2014.
“Was a Leeds fan growing up I’m afraid,” said the cyclist.
We won’t hold that against you, Cav, enjoy your award and congratulations on a terrific career.
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