Virgil van Dijk was the match-winner against Sunderland, but the Liverpool captain wants his teammates to get the credit.
It only ever seems to be the most important goals that the Dutchman scores for Liverpool.
He might have been the best centre-back in Europe for many years, but Van Dijk used to play much further up the pitch in his youth and has always relished getting into the opposition box.
That was his 23rd Liverpool goal in the Premier League, overtaking Sami Hyypiä as the club’s top-scoring defender in the competition.
Who was Liverpool’s best player in the excellent win over Sunderland, and why?
What a win!
But that’s not what Van Dijk is focused on. He wants to give credit to his teammates.
Virgil van Dijk on Ibrahima Konate’s performance
Van Dijk was awarded Player of the Match, but it easily could have gone to his defensive partner.
Konate was Liverpool’s best player against Sunderland as we saw it. He was simply dominant.
Despite winning the game for his side, Van Dijk gave a special post-match shoutout to the Frenchman and to a Liverpool midfielder who needed a good performance.
Change my mind: Liverpool would be CRAZY to let Konate leave 😣
He is back to his best!
He told TNT Sports: “Very important. I think Ibou [Konate] was outstanding. Macca [Mac Allister] in front, everyone was outstanding. Joe [Gomez] when he came on. Unfortunately, Wata [Endo] had to go off.”
Alexis Mac Allister needed a strong Liverpool performance, and he gave it. Some of his passes were somewhat wayward, but he was strong, brutish and giving 100% effort for the whole game. Big for him as well.
Not just Liverpool history for Van Dijk
It turns out Van Dijk didn’t just break a club record. He also did something no player has done in the last five seasons.
If you ever wanted to know what a ‘cherry-picked stat’ is, prepare yourself.
OptaJoe posted to X: “Virgil van Dijk tonight was the first player to score a goal, make 10+ headed clearances (11) and win 5+ aerial duels (8) in a Premier League match in any of the last five seasons. Colossus.”
Look, doing anything for the first time in five years at this level is impressive. It just goes to show how dominant he and Konate were at the Stadium of Light.
With any luck, they will continue in this vein and get back to last season’s elite level as a duo.
- READ MORE: Joe Cole noticed why Hugo Ekitike was left ‘frustrated’ with Liverpool teammates vs Sunderland
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