Virgil Van Dijk: "Any Away Victory In The Champions League Is Hard-Earned"

Yesterday at 06:48 PM

The captain wrote about keeping the momentum and staying fit in his matchday program column this week.

Last weekend's loss to Nottingham Forest was a gut punch this early on in the season, but Liverpool were lucky to have an opportunity to shake it off early, when they started their Champions League campaign against AC Milan on Tuesday.

The Reds came away with a 3-1 victory despite conceding early, and captain Virgil van Dijk plans to capture that momentum and use it going into Saturday's matchup against Bournemouth.

"We know that we fell way short of the required standard against Forest, and that hurts," van Dijk wrote in his program notes ahead of Saturday's match.

"We don't lose many games at Anfield, so it was inevitable that people were wondering how we would react as we headed to Milan. And apart from the first five minutes, I think we answered the questions."

Liverpool unfortunately conceded their first goal of the season when Christian Pulisic charged forward unmarked, and gave our boys a little bit of a knock to their senses. Thankfully they were able to come back to eventually win thanks to goals from the captain, Ibrahima Konate, and Dominik Szoboszlai. The Reds are back in the Champions League, and in fine form.

"It was a difficult start, but the way we worked after going behind was outstanding. It would be easy to lose composure going 1-0 down so early in the game, against a good team in an iconic stadium, but we stayed calm and kept looking for the solution, which was very good to see," the defender continued.

"From a personal perspective, it was good to get my first goal of the season, and it was good to see Ibou Konate get his first for a good while too. We may be defenders first and foremost, but we both know the importance of chipping in at the other end as well, and for us both to get on the scoresheet was very pleasing.

"Any away victory in the Champions League is hard-earned, especially against a team like Milan, so we were very happy with the way we controlled the game thereafter, and it was great to see our travelling fans celebrating at the end.

"We know that you guys have been as desperate as we have to get back into the Champions League, so this was a pretty good way to return."

Liverpool returned to the Champions League this season after last season's unsuccessful Europa League run, and are now going to be in the thick of the new group stage format to boot. They host French side Bologna at Anfield in October, and van Dijk knows the important thing is to keep the momentum going.

"The key now is to build on that performance, and to deliver on a week-to-week basis. I have said many times that we remain a work in progress as a team, but we have shown already this season that there is a lot of talent within the squad. Now, it is about showing that consistently," van Dijk added.

"That is on all of us. We have to stay fit, we have to do everything in our power to be ready for the next game, whether we start or not, and we have to feel part of winning games."

One of the biggest struggles last season was another injury crisis within the squad, certainly the Dutchman isn't the first to recognize that everyone needs to stay fit for the squad to be successful going forward. New coach Arne Slot is already doing his best to manage minutes by rotating players early and often, especially as the schedule gets more and more congested.

"We have a lot of games coming up, so we need all the guys to be ready. Everybody wants to play every game, of course, but we know that rotation is going to be important if we are to be successful this season, so it's about each and every player making sure they are in the best possible condition to make an impact, whether from the start or off the bench," the captain explained.

"We know that Bournemouth will provide a tough test for us. They are a team that always makes life difficult for their opponents, who are well organised and have good players, and we will need to be at our best if we are to get the three points.

"Like I said earlier, we don't lose many games at Anfield, and that is certainly not a habit we want to be starting now. We showed a good reaction over in Milan, and now we want to give our home supporters something to shout about after last weekend's disappointment."