The day Van Dijk returned to the beginning

Last Wednesday Virgil van Dijk returned to the start. Until the day of his debut as a Liverpool player. On January 5, 2018, in the 84th minute of the derby against Everton, the current captain of the Netherlands rose to connect a header that gave victory to Jürgen Klopp’s team, leaving those from Goodison Park FA Cup ( 2-1). That night began to change Liverpool’s recent history.

On January 5, 5 years ago, James Milner put the ‘reds’ ahead from a penalty in the 35th minute. Gylfi Sigurdsson equalizes for Everton in the 67′. Van Dijk ended his first game for Liverpool with his goal. Many fans of the Anfield team will remember Van Dijk’s debut on Wednesday when the defender jumped in on 73′ and opened the way for Liverpool an important victory against Wolves to keep dreaming with a place in the next Champions League. The Anfield supporters suffered as the goals did not come and the clock was winding down. Until Van Dijk scored. Mohamed Salah scored the second in the 77′.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

Liverpool’s recent history changed when the ‘red’ club signed Van Dijk and Alisson Becker, which provided the defensive strength that a team lacked with the glittering trident Salah-Firmino-Mané. But Van Dijk has been and is more of a defensive force at Liverpool. Leader on and off the field. Influential in all aspects. His serious injury coincided with, among many other casualties, a very difficult season, 2020-21, for those at Anfield. Currently Van Dijk is still not at his best.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

Liverpool are not in a good moment. Eliminated from the FA Cup and Carabao Cup (titles they won last season), Real Madrid lost 2-5 in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. Now, thanks to the win against WolvesLiverpool are 6 points away, with one game less, from the places for the said Eurotournament.

Bad as the times at Anfield, the ‘red’ fans felt proud on Monday to see Van Dijk in the FIFA ideal eleven of The Best Awards. 208 games with Liverpool reflect on him. A Champions League, a Premier, a Club World Cup, a European Super Cup, an FA Cup, a Carabao Cup, a Community Shield. And on Wednesday he was back at the beginning. To this end.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});