Van Dijk has no longer put Alexander-Arnold ‘on the spot’ over his Liverpool long run

Virgil van Dijk mentioned he had no longer put power on Trent Alexander-Arnold to stick at Liverpool and that he believed his teammate deserved his second of glory in Sunday’s 1-0 victory at Leicester. Alexander-Arnold’s winner – the primary left-footed purpose of 23 in his occupation – put Liverpool at the verge of a 20th league identify.

Van Dijk driven the 26-year-old, who is anticipated to go away for Real Madrid this summer season, in opposition to the Liverpool supporters after the general whistle and Alexander-Arnold clenched his fists in birthday party.

Liverpool will seal the Premier League on Wednesday if Arsenal lose at house to Crystal Palace, and will another way safe it at house in opposition to Tottenham on Sunday. The Liverpool captain mentioned it used to be “past my wildest dreams” to be 13 issues transparent at this level.

“I think we forget that we are dealing with a human being,” Van Dijk mentioned of Alexander-Arnold, who returned from an ankle damage. “Sometimes he goes through so many moments in the last couple of months and everyone will have an opinion on the way he’s obviously been. There’s a lot of noise around him and obviously everyone can argue if it’s his own fault, [but] it’s just part of life nowadays.

“So when he scores a big goal like that, I think he deserves applause for stepping up in that particular moment and to soak it all in because whether he stays or leaves, these are moments which you shouldn’t take for granted to give us as a team the opportunity to finish it off. So I think he deserved that moment and now it’s back to work and be ready for the weekend.”

Asked whether or not he had spoken to Alexander-Arnold about his long run, Van Dijk responded: “I think he was under a lot of pressure already so there’s no point for me to put him on the spot.”

Liverpool’s gamers will document for coaching on Wednesday after two days off. Van Dijk mentioned Slot merits reward for taking Liverpool to the “next level” and seamlessly adapting from lifestyles at Feyenoord and the Eredivisie in his first season in fee.

“We also shouldn’t forget that we already were a team that was fighting up until April last year, so we had the quality, we couldn’t finish it off, and this year we have found that next level in terms of consistency and finding a way.

“But listen, the staff deserve all the credit as well. Coming from Holland, to adapt so quickly, to improve so many players in the way we play, giving confidence in the way we play without a pre-season as well [because of the schedule last summer] and without signings, really.”

Van Dijk mentioned the squad would possibly convene on Wednesday as they did in June 2020, once they celebrated profitable the identify after Manchester City misplaced at Chelsea, handing the crown to Liverpool. “I expect Arsenal to win at home but yeah, if it doesn’t happen then I think it would be nice to be together,” Van Dijk mentioned. “So however that may look, we will discuss in the next couple of days.”