Liverpool kicked off the new Premier League season on Saturday with a spectacular 4-3 win over PhD candidate Leeds United. Mohamed Salah impressed with a hat-trick and Virgil van Dijk also claimed a leading role for the reigning champion of England with a goal, an error and a dismissed shot. Afterwards, the Orange international emphasized how important Salah is for the team of manager Jürgen Klopp.

Van Dijk added beIN Sport questions about Salah, who could no longer display his previous productivity in the previous duels in Liverpool. In the thirteen previous matches of the reds in all competitions the counter stopped at five hits. “Well, it’s the media,” replied the Dutchman. ‘You doubt him, we appreciate him. It’s clear and that’s the most important thing to him. We do not acknowledge the negativity of the media. ”

Van Dijk passed in the twentieth minute, but an error by the defender passed ten minutes later to Patrick Bamford’s 2-2. It was the second time in the last four Premier League games that an error by the defender immediately led to a goal. “It was a situation that could happen,” Van Dijk replied. “I do my best and that’s what I did at the time. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal, but I’m not worried about that. ”

“It was a competition in which all sorts of things happened. It is also something to foresee, at least in terms of intensity. Nobody wants to concede many goals and it was an intense match for both teams “, Van Dijk concluded. ‘Lots of sprint duels, lots of one-on-one duels and lots of counter-attacks. The three points are natural massive. Leeds will make it difficult for many teams with their playing style and intensity. The three points are good, but we still have a lot of work to do. ”

Liverpool play Chelsea next Sunday, who play Brighton & Hove Albion for the first time on Monday. Then the defense will have to go better, Klopp knows better than anyone else. “At the first goal against our backs was deeper than the centers, it just can not happen. The second goal against was caused by a misunderstanding between Van Dijk and Alisson. I do not think we will see something like this more often. At Leeds’ third goal, we only changed Jordan Henderson, which means we were not in the right position. ”

‘We were not quick to make the spaces in that situation small. But to take advantage of something like that, you have to be brave, and that was Leeds, ”Klopp admitted. He does not foresee any defensive problems this season. Our defenders played for England, the Netherlands and Scotland this month. These are top teams, but they also defend in a different way. Like Van Dijk, Georginio Wijnaldum got a basic place. The midfielder, who has been linked with a move to Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona for some time, played the entire match.