Virgil van Dijk is not satisfied with Liverpool’s play in the semi-final of the Champions League. Watching a visit to Villarreal the Reds halfway through against a 2-0 deficit, which was rectified in the second company: 2-3. After the 2-0 win in the return, manager Jürgen Klopp’s team eventually qualified for the final in Paris, where the winner of the diptych between Manchester City and Real Madrid will be hit.
“What happened in the first half was a scenario that we had not hoped for, of course,” says Van Dijk in front of the camera of RTL 7† “We came behind early and were under pressure throughout the first half. We made the wrong choices, we were sloppy and we had little variety in our game. We lost second balls… That’s quite a long list of things, yes. Everything went wrong. But you know what the beauty is? It doesn’t matter. For the third time in five years I am in the final of the Champions League with this beautiful club. It’s a childhood dream again.”
“It is also such a hectic season,” continues Van Dijk. “We play every three days and you don’t really enjoy the moments that are there. Now again. Tomorrow we fly home, and on Saturday evening we play against Tottenham again. We have to enjoy this for a while tonight, but after that we also have to recover. Fortunately we were able to recover in the second half. You also just have to show how much you want to go to Paris.”
In 2018, Van Dijk played his first Champions League final against Real Madrid. At the time, the Liverpool captain lost 3-1, but a year later he took revenge with his team. In the final battle against Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool was 2-0 too strong in 2019. Thanks to goals from Fabinho, Luis Díaz and Sadio Mane, the 2-0 deficit against Villarreal was brushed away, so that Van Dijk will play his third final on May 28 in Paris.