Virgil van Dijk is being "driven crazy" by a Lionel Messi taunt that two Liverpool teammates keep repeating to him.
Van Dijk is in his first season as Liverpool captain following the departure of Jordan Henderson and stepped up to the mark with the winner in Sunday's Carabao Cup final.
A natural leader, the former Celtic and Southampton man demands the respect of his peers.
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But that doesn't mean he is immune to being colleagues. Summer signing Alexis Mac Allister has revealed that both he and Mo Salah keep saying 'Anda Pa Alla Bobo' to Van Dijk - which is the same phrase an angry Messi said to Wout Weghorst in a spicy World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands in 2022.
Speaking to DS Sports' 'Can Pass' programme, the former Brighton man said:
“Me and Salah, all day long are saying 'Anda Pa Alla Bobo!' [What are you looking at fool] to Van Dijk. We are driving him crazy and we also do that among ourselves."
Messi fumed at former Manchester United loanee Weghorst after Argentina knocked out the Netherlands on penalties.
Tempers flared in the game, with 15 yellow cards shown by Antonio Mateu Lahoz in the contest.
Messi aimed a celebration at Louis van Gaal and then Weghorst was in his firing line post-match.
He essentially told him to "Get out of here fool!" in his native Spanish while he was giving a post-match interview.
Footage from the Netflix’s ‘Captains Of The World’ documentary, shows that Messi snubbed Weghorst's attempt to shake his hand.
However, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is not massively proud of his behaviour, which was a little out of character for him.
"I don't like what I did," Messi reflected in an interview with TyC Sports, via the Mirror. "I don't like the 'keep moving' and all that. But well, they are moments of huge tension and huge nervousness and everything happens very fast.
One reacts the way one reacts, but nothing was planned. It just happened. I don't like to leave that image, but these are things that happen."
Topics: Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool, Argentina, Lionel Messi
Josh Lawless