Virgil van Dijk will use the pain of Holland’s World Cup campaign as fuel to drive Liverpool to new heights in what he believes could be “a very crazy season.”
The centre back vowed to channel the frustration endured after the penalty shoot-out defeat by eventual winners Argentina in the quarter-finals into helping Jürgen Klopp’s side to find the consistency required to flourish.
Van Dijk captained his country in Qatar but his hopes of glory disappeared after a dramatic, bad-tempered game as Lionel Messi and his team-mates advanced 4-3 on spot kicks after a 2-2 draw. The 31-year-old defender missed his attempt and then had to suffer Argentina’s goading of their opponents during raucous celebrations.
Earlier, he had clashed with Leandro Paredes, bodychecking his rival to the floor after the midfielder had smashed a loose ball at the Holland substitutes’ bench.
“Listen, it was a very intense game from start to finish for both sides,” Van Dijk said. “[The shove on Paredes] was obviously something I don’t normally do but it was the heat of the moment and we are all human beings, these things happen. They won, we lost through penalties and that is the hard reality.”
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Defeat came in a year in which Liverpool won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup but were pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester City and lost in the Champions League final to Real Madrid. Van Dijk says he will draw on all those experiences, to try to ensure that his career continues to play out on the grandest occasions.
Before this evening’s game away to Brentford, he conceded that leaders Arsenal’s 15-point advantage over sixth-placed Liverpool appears insurmountable but he also knows that there will be lots of ups and downs over the coming months.
“I had time to reflect,” Van Dijk said of his World Cup adventure. “It was a great experience to lead the boys out there and it comes with a lot of responsibility. The whole world is watching, which is something that I really enjoyed.
“Yeah, things were disappointing in the end for us, that is also part of football. It was a tough couple of days but then it was about switching back towards the most important things in life; my wife and kids. So that was the case.
“It fuels me in any way, shape or form because I want to be successful with the Netherlands. I feel like we have a fantastic squad and new era with Ronald Koeman coming back [replacing Louis van Gaal as head coach] and young players coming through, like Cody [Gakpo] for example. He can make big steps with his transfer and then become more important for us.
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“Hopefully we can do something nice in the summer with the Nations League finals. That will be a nice step and it is something I really want to win, even though it is the end of the season when you are probably absolutely shattered.
“We will definitely go for it but it has also motivated me here [at Liverpool]. We are quite some points behind Arsenal but the season could be a very crazy one, a very strange one. We have to be realistic and we’re not thinking about the title at the moment.
“We have to focus on the game ahead of us, win games, and then we’ll see. I am always motivated, I always want to win and I give everything every game.”
Liverpool’s 2-1 victory against Leicester City at Anfield on Friday was unconvincing and owed everything to two Wout Faes own goals to leave Van Dijk acknowledging that an improvement is required against Brentford.
Klopp’s side have won their past four league matches and must maintain that momentum if they are to move up the table.
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“We want to keep winning but we also have to improve our game and we know that we can, especially after Friday,” Van Dijk said.
“Last year [at Brentford, 3-3] was tough and I saw they won away at West Ham, too. They will be full of confidence and we have to be confident as well with our team and the players we have. We can hurt them in different ways but we have to be prepared.”
