The Liverpool captain encapsulated himself brilliantly in Virgil van Dijk’s reaction to Lisandro Martinez’s challenge on Dominik Szoboszlai in the first half of Sunday’s Northwest derby.
Thanks to a coolly taken double from Luis Diaz, the Reds dominated the first forty-five minutes at Old Trafford and went into halftime leading by two goals.
One significant discussion point from the first half, though, concerned Van Dijk’s response to Martinez’s rough challenge on Szoboszlai, which left the Hungarian midfielder writhing on the ground.
Van Dijk raced over to face the 26-year-old after the Argentine centre defender squashed Liverpool’s No. 8 from behind, but referee Anthony Taylor stopped him from getting too near.
But when the camera switched to the Dutchman, he was seen gesturing for Martinez to “come up here” and implying that the Argentine would not be allowed to accept such a challenge if it were directed at him.
It summed up not only Van Dijk’s passion and battle for Liverpool, but also his leadership qualities and ability to keep his teammates safe, defying anyone who would harm one of Arne Slot’s players.
