'I like to do normal things': Virgil van Dijk maintains sense of perspective

Yesterday at 06:30 PM

Liverpool captain watched his daughter star in the school play before taking centre stage in the Carabao Cup final

Virgil van Dijk's attention was not on football on Thursday night or checking on the state of contract negotiations. Instead he was watching a school production of Fantastic Mr Fox. His daughter Jadi, like her father on the pitch, had a starring role: she was Mrs Fox, while Wataru Endo's son was a rat. It was the perfect antidote to going out of the Champions League on Tuesday to Paris Saint-Germain and waiting for Sunday'sCarabao Cup final against Newcastle.

"I'm also a normal father, husband, man, and I like to do normal things," Van Dijk says. "And when you've been seen as normal as well, and it's difficult, but going to school is a nice thing. Some of the kids are looking up, thinking: 'What are you doing here?' The most important thing in life is my kids and my wife's life. These things are definitely important, but they fully understand as well when it's time to fully focus on the task ahead."