'Look at the game': Arne Slot says one Liverpool player really silenced his critics during win over Leverkusen
Yesterday at 06:05 PM
Liverpool produced one of their best performances of the season as they brushed aside Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 to move to the top of the UEFA Champions League standings.
Luis Diaz took centre stage with a second-half hattrick, while Cody Gakpo scored a header to set the Reds on their way to a fantastic win at Anfield.
The Colombian enjoyed arguably his finest night as a Liverpool player, but Arne Slot singled out Virgil van Dijk for special praise after another special night in the Champions League.
Arne Slot says Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has silenced his critics
The Liverpool captain was at the top of his game as he marshaled the backline against a bunch of talented attackers.
Van Dijk has often been slated for keeping it overly simple at the back and not playing enough line-breaking passes, especially in the Netherlands.
And Slot was at hand to strike back at the Dutchman’s critics as he sent out a clear message after the full-time whistle.
“What I like a lot and I think Clarence [Seedorf] knows this, although he’s been in Italy for a long time so I don’t know if he follows the Dutch press a lot,” said Slot on Amazon Prime Video.
“But Virgil sometimes, especially after the Euros, got a bit criticised about him not wanting to step into the midfield, he wasn’t always pushing forwards.
“Now, I would advise all those people to look at the game today because he was constantly on the front foot if he needed to help the midfield. So, he had a very good game.”
Van Dijk’s stats vs Leverkusen
Van Dijk was at his brilliant best against the reigning Bundesliga champions and did really well alongside Konate to shut out Victor Boniface, who barely had a sniff barring a late chance in the second half.
His underlying numbers from the game are as follows:
- 4 long balls completed
- 3 clearances
- 2 blocks
- 1 duel won
- 79 touches
- 95% pass accuracy (70/74 passes completed)
