Virgil van Dijk makes Ollie Watkins feelings clear after Aston Villa star broke his heart
Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk faces Ollie Watkins for the first time since he scored his last-minute winner for England to dump The Netherlands out of Euro 2024.
by David Anderson · The MirrorVirgil van Dijk insists he is not “bitter” over facing England nemesis Ollie Watkins for the first time since he broke his heart at Euro 2024.
Liverpool skipper Van Dijk faces Watkins at Anfield on Saturday night for the first time since the Aston Villa striker bagged his sensational last-minute winner in the Euro 2024 semi-final. As gut-wrenching as Watkins’ strike was for van Dijk and his Netherlands team-mates, he claims he has got over this huge disappointment.
Watkins has netted five goals for Villa in his eight appearances against Liverpool, including a hat-trick in the crazy 7-2 win in October 2020. The Three Lions striker is one of only 11 players to score a Premier League hat-trick against Liverpool and van Dijk says he has always rated him.
Van Dijk said: “No. I’m not that, what do you call it, sentimental? Bitter? I’m never bitter. I don’t think about what happened in the summer. Obviously he scored a good goal. I knew he was capable of doing that and unfortunately we couldn’t stop him, but that’s football sometimes.
“I know how good he can be and I think he’s a very, very good striker, a good finisher. He always makes it difficult for the defenders. It will be a good match-up for all of us.”
Van Dijk has played a massive part in Liverpool having the Premier League’s best defence under Arne Slot and the Reds have shipped just six goals in their 10 games. Van Dijk says head coach Slot wants them to defend as a team and says everyone knows their responsibilities.
“The manager wants us to defend in a certain way,” said the centre-half. “We try to do that. We try to solve it on the pitch when we can. It doesn’t always go perfect, like we’ve seen in so many games this year.
“But we are willing to defend together so if our opponents beat the press, we’re all sprinting back in order to not concede any unnecessary chances or crosses in or whatever.
“But there are also so many things and moments in games when we are doing very well. Like I said, so far so good in terms of results, but we all realise we can improve.”
Liverpool are top of the Premier League and Champions League, but van Dijk says they are just focused on getting better. “It’s all about working each and every day to get better in things that we have to improve because there are still so many things where we could improve,” he said.
“We all know that as players and I think the manager is also key and is showing that as well. We’re still a work in progress.”
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