Jamie Carragher has claimed that Virgil Van Dijk was ‘unbelievable’ during Liverpool’s 1-0 second-leg defeat to Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night at Anfield.
The Liverpool legend praised Van Dijk’s passing, composure and defensive clearances during the game, as he told CBS Sports (08/03/22 at 10:05 pm).
The only goal of the game actually involved Van Dijk when he backed off Lautaro Martinez, who rifled home from distance.
The Inter forward, after being fed by Alexis Sanchez, allowed the ball to run in front of him, before rocketing it past Alisson Becker to the shock of the home crowd.
During that moment, Carragher pointed out that he would have got tighter to Martinez, but he made it clear, for the rest of the game, Van Dijk was at his best.
“Yes, I would have got tighter (to Martinez if he was VVD),” said Carragher. “But, for me, as a defender, your natural reaction is to get tighter.
“I must say, the rest of Van Dijk’s game was unbelievable. Some of his passing. The clearances. How cool he was.
“But he could have got a little tighter and it was a wonder goal. Inter Milan played very well over the two games. They were probably the better team than Liverpool.
“You can see the difference between Serie A and the Premier League. Liverpool are nowhere near their best and still should have come away with two goals given the chances Mo Salah had.”
Moments after Martinez had tuned up the nerve levels on Merseyside, ex-Arsenal man Sanchez was sent off.
The former Manchester United forward was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Fabinho, even though it was questionable, as that killed the momentum for the away team.
But, over the two legs, even though Jurgen Klopp and his players lacked rhythm on a number of occasions, they did enough to cross that line.
Liverpool are one of the favourites to lift the European Cup, alongside Bayern Munich, who slapped RB Salzburg 7-1 last night and 8-2 on aggregate.
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