Captain Van Dijk is finally back to his best at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp believes Virgil van Dijk is finally back to his very best.

The Liverpool defender was thought to be past his prime following a serious knee injury in October 2020 which kept him sidelined for nine months. 

But this week Klopp claimed that the centre-back is the best in the world in his position.

Ahead of the Reds' Europa League tie with Union Saint-Gilloise, we examine Van Dijk's return to form. 

Klopp praise

Before Liverpool's 2-1 win at Crystal Palace last Saturday, Klopp was quizzed about Van Dijk's importance to the team.

The German boss said: "Virg is the best defender in the world.

"Did he have lesser good spells? Yes. If you show me one player who never had that, I will be really happy to meet him. To be honest, probably that's how we all are.

"When we look back in the past and the Rio Ferdinands on the planet, not to blame him, but were they good all the time? Or Jaap Stam, Sami Hyypia, or whoever? 

"Were they always perfect? Nobody was and nobody will be. So, yes, Virg in that shape is for us super-important.

"With Virg, everything positive I said in the past, we can say again because I still think exactly the same. Everybody can see Virg is back and it's obvious. Thank God!"

Stat king

Liverpool have certainly looked more defensively secure this season.

They have only conceded 15 goals in 16 Premier League outings, which gives them the joint-best defensive record alongside Arsenal.

They are averaging 0.93 goals conceded per game, compared to 1.23 in 2022-23.

Van Dijk's stats show he is a key part of the improvement with no player successfully dribbling past him this season.

The 32-year-old ranks second in the Premier League for aerial duels won, seventh for clearances and 13th for interceptions. 

Van Dijk has also proved important when it comes to Liverpool's attacking output.

Among outfield players in the Premier League, he ranks fourth for progressive passing distance — a statistic which records the total distance of passes towards the opposition goal.

Van Dijk scored in the recent 2-0 win over Sheffield United and no defender in the English top flight has netted more than his 17 goals since his move to Liverpool in December 2017.

Serious injury

Earlier this season, Van Dijk confirmed he finally feels back to his normal self following his ACL injury and lengthy recovery period. 

He said: "My injury was very serious, it is not surprising that you have to get to know your knee again, so to speak. 

"But now I don't notice it any more. I haven't had to change much in my way of playing. I have the feeling that I can do everything again. 

"Last season was just mediocre, sometimes even bad. As a team, we also struggled to find a good rhythm at Liverpool. 

"I have thought and talked about it a lot to be able to turn that around. That worked, I think. Things have been going very well again since the summer." 

Van Dijk is once again leading by example at Liverpool and setting the highest possible standards.