The Dutch centre-back made his first top-flight appearance since October 2020 as Liverpool started the new season with a 3-0 win over Norwich City.
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Liverpool fans were in for a treat in their opening day 3-0 victory over Norwich City. If the performance was promising, witnessing the club’s star centre-back – Virgil van Dijk – return to action after a lengthy injury layoff was even more encouraging. The Dutch centre-back made his first top-flight appearance since October 2020 as Liverpool started the new season with a comfortable win at Carrow Road. He completed the full 90 minutes in the latest step forward of his comeback from injury. After the match, Van Dijk spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about how he felt in competing at Premier League level again.
The Dutch defender expressed his delight over starting the game and also getting the three points on the night. “Excited, very happy obviously to start the game, to get the three points, win 3-0 away, a clean sheet. Obviously you can’t ask for more. There are obviously still many things to improve but we are early in the season. I’m still getting up to speed so these are the only moments where you can really improve as well,” he added.
“It’s different [to pre-season]. I wasn’t nervous, I was excited, I wanted to be out there. I wanted to get the game going. In my case I just need repetition, to keep doing things: coming across, pushing up, get the ball, change of play, keep the speed, all these things, what I normally do and yeah, these are the moments where you can really improve, so that’s what I tried to do.”
Having taken the lead before the interval through Diogo Jota, Liverpool never looked back. Goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah guaranteed the Reds three points to start the season on a positive note. Speaking about the importance of starting the season with a good result, Virgil van Dijk replied, “Very important. This year is going to be exciting for many reasons, personally but as a team as well.”
“If you look at the teams around us improving, who want to compete for the Premier League title; obviously we want to be up there as well. So it’s going to be a Premier League full of high quality which we all should enjoy. We have a fantastic squad: just go for it and take each game as it comes.”
Virgil van Dijk was also happy to see the fans returning to the stadium. “Seeing the fans back is a big boost, but also just playing the games, the Premier League, the best league in the world. You want to be out there, you want to perform, you want to compete, you want to win. To be able to do that with fans again as a team, hopefully we stay fit all of us, that’s something to be excited about. We’ll give it a proper go and take it game by game,” he added.
Meanwhile, manager Jurgen Klopp was also happy to see Virgil van Dijk returning to action. The manager said, “Nobody knows, not even himself, where he is – is he 90 per cent, 95 per cent? Fitness-wise he is 100 per cent, where you can be, otherwise he wouldn’t have played, but from a form point of view, shape or whatever, it was different, so then each game helps.”
“It was really good to see him again being back on the pitch, especially on defensive set-pieces, he looked really, really good. Offensive set-pieces with the two monsters, Joel and Virgil, we were really good. We scored from a second ball, I think Mo’s goal was a brilliant routine, really – getting a second ball in that area and finishing off. So, yes, it’s nice to have him back.”
