Virgil van Dijk salutes 'outstanding' Liverpool pair vs Real Madrid as Man City trip looms

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"He is very important. The energy he brings on the pitch is incredible, the quality that he has is outstanding and like you said he is learning each and every game and he is developing into the player we all feel like he could be."He is already showing that for the country he is playing for and it is about keeping on doing it for the rest of the season.

So far he has had a great start to the season and he has to keep going. When that happens you have to be spot on and I think we showed we were good as a team defensively."We created good opportunities and they had a goalkeeper (Thibaut Courtois) that saved them a couple of times."Van Dijk also reserved a word of praise for Conor Bradley, who was excellent on the night to help keep Brazil international Vinicius Junior quiet throughout."Conor was very good," he added.

Last year, he got injured in this game but today he held his own against one of the best wingers in recent times. So, he was outstanding."For everyone that is the challenge, the intensity of the games is incredible so you have to look after yourself and now he obviously played two good games, like the rest of the team, and now it is recovery and onto the next one.