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If his most recent display is anything to go by, Virgil van Dijk might well be feeling the pressure at the moment.
The Liverpool captain has had to shoulder a lot of the burden following the Reds’ recent poor run of form, which has seen them lose their last three games in all competitions. The international break offered a chance for him to take his mind off the Premier League champions’ struggles, although the Netherlands’ game against Malta on Thursday wasn’t as straightforward as he might have planned.
A 4-0 victory away from home, thanks in part to a Cody Gakpo double from the spot, keeps the Dutch on course to reach next year’s World Cup, although Van Dijk did receive some criticism from the media in his homeland for his display.
“Painful” was one of the harsh descriptions of the 34-year-old, who almost played his side into trouble when an attempted pass to goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen ended up at the feet of Malta’s Joseph Mbong instead.
Thankfully for Van Dijk, the error went unpunished, but it does perhaps point to the usually infallible Liverpool captain feeling the pressure amid what has been a tricky start to the season.
There shouldn’t be too many concerns about him though. As the old saying goes: “Form is temporary, class is permanent.”
You only need to hear the opinion of some of the game’s greatest defenders to know the truth about Van Dijk. AC Milan legend Alessandro Nesta is among those in absolutely no doubt about his status.
“For me now, Van Dijk, Van Dijk is the best,” Nesta told Goal (via TBR). “The best because he performs every year at the same level, he plays in the Premier League, the toughest league, for me, he is the best.”
Nesta’s former Milan teammate Jaap Stam agrees, with the Dutchman summing things up when he gave his thoughts on his compatriot signing a new contract at Anfield earlier this year.
“He's still one of the best, maybe the best defender in the world at the moment,” Stam said.
And for anyone questioning his standing at Liverpool, just ask Anfield legend Jamie Carragher.
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“I don’t like to describe van Dijk as just the best center-back,” Carragher said last month.
“At Liverpool, a lot of people are called legends because they won the league, won the Champions League, there are a lot of them.
“But if you want to differentiate them, I call them 'giants of the club'. I’m talking Stevie [Gerrard], Kenny Dalglish, [Graeme] Souness, Alan Hansen, John Barnes, the top seven or eight players, even Mo Salah.
“Without a doubt, he is right in the middle of that and he’s not at the bottom, I can assure you.
“He will go down as one of the greatest players to ever play for Liverpool. Not one of the greatest centre-backs, one of the greatest players.”
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