Virgil van Dijk looks up from the sudden compliments for Mohamed Salah. After his performance in Saturday’s away game against Watford (0-5 win), the Liverpool attacker is mentioned as a potential Ballon d’Or winner, but according to Van Dijk, Salah has been proving his qualities for years. During the press conference prior to Tuesday’s Champions League match against Atlético Madrid, Van Dijk indicates that Salah has already proven to belong to the world’s top in recent years.
Salah shone against Watford with a fine goal after showing his heels to several defenders. “He is doing well at the moment”, the Dutch defender agrees. This season, Salah has scored ten goals and four assists in ten official games for Liverpool. “He is an incredibly good footballer. He has proven that over the last few seasons. We are very, very happy with the form he is in.” Van Dijk takes the praise of the outside world with a grain of salt. “He’s definitely one of the best in the world, although everyone has their own opinion about that. As players, we know that you’re the world’s best player one week and you can’t do anything about it the next.”
???????????????????????? ?? Mohamed Salah really sends the entire Watford defense into the woods and then rounds off perfectly ??#ZiggoSport #PremierLeague #WATLIV pic.twitter.com/3fYX5FCEON
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) October 16, 2021
“We simply appreciate his performance. We know his qualities and we know how difficult he can make it for opponents,” the the Dutch captain said. “He has been showing it for a long time, but only now is everyone talking about it and everyone is talking about each other. The numbers speak for themselves. He is a fantastic player. But we also have a very good team.” Not all Liverpool players get the appreciation they deserve, thinks Van Dijk. “Against Watford, for example, Sadio Mane scored his 100th Premier League goal. I think it should be a bit more about that. That is not normal either. Bobby (Roberto Firmino, ed.) made a hat-trick, while having a difficult time (due to injury).”
“We have a fantastic group of players, with players who will do anything for each other. Everyone knows their tasks. For Mo, scoring goals is an important one,” concludes Van Dijk at the press conference. Trainer Jürgen Klopp doubts whether Salah will win the prize for best player in the world. “Is it about getting to the Champions League final, is it about scoring the most goals? Then it can be difficult. But when it comes to the performance over the past two years, he has a chance in my view. But I’m not involved in the award ceremony.” France Football has put together a shortlist of thirty players, a selection of journalists – one from each FIFA football country – together with the national coaches and captains of national teams determine the winner.
The journalists, players and national coaches are asked to choose a top five from the thirty names of the shortlist, based on a person’s individual and collective performance in the past year, quality of the player and taking into account the player’s career. The number one panelist receives six points, the number two five points, and so on. Finally, an overall ranking will follow. “Internally, Salah has always received recognition. Whether he also received it from the outside world, I do not know. It is a bit strange to see that after two goals people suddenly think that he is the best player in the world. He has been performing for years. at top level. The most important thing for me is that he keeps doing it. You can write all the positive things you can think of about him because he deserves it, but now let’s prepare for the game against Atletico.”
Klopp nevertheless also discusses Van Dijk’s return to the team. How important is his return for Liverpool to play the game Klopp has in mind? “I need all our players to play our game. We didn’t know exactly how we wanted to play before all the players got together,” he explains. “We mainly had a general idea. The better the players get, the better you can play football. I understand that you are asking about Virgil, because he is an exceptional player – my God, he is the best center back in the world for me – but “It’s not just because of Virgil’s absence that we didn’t play the way we wanted last season. We also missed Joe Gomez and Joël Matip. We had young centre-backs who did well and we came in third in the league. Sometimes we played “We wanted to play the way we wanted, but of course your game depends a lot on the players on the pitch. Virgil would help any team in the world. Thank God he’s back.”