A Manchester United fan explained why Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk is the greatest Premier League centre-back ever.
On Sunday, Virgil van Dijk netted a last-minute winner, as Liverpool claimed a dramatic 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
Having been deprived of Trent-Alexander Arnold, Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez through injury, Liverpool won the game while fielding a host of youngsters.
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Conor Bradley (20) started the final in defence while Harvey Elliott (20) played the full 120 minutes. Moreover, 18-year-old Jayden Danns, 19-year-olds James McConnell and Bobby Clark, as well as Jarell Quansah (21), were also thrown into the fray.
Van Dijk, who had also seen an earlier goal controversially ruled out by VAR for offside, went on to inspire his youthful Liverpool contingent to victory.
His performance led one prominent United fan on X to claim he was the greatest Premier League centre-back off all time.
Utdcynical said on X, formally Twitter: “Van Dijk is simply the greatest CB in Prem history. You can’t name one player who can match his completeness and levels of performance in their prime.”
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After United responded by claiming Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Vincent Kompany were all superior to the Dutchman, Utdcynical responded: “You name an attribute, Van Dijk has got it. The likes of Vidic (who wasn’t better than Rio) couldn’t do what he could in a high-line.”
In a separate post, he added: “The likes of Vidic, Kompany etc would say Van Dijk is better themselves.”
After the game Van Dijk told Sky Sports: “All the young boys on the pitch, if you see the extra-time, it’s incredible. I’m so proud of the team.
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“An intense game for both sides, they had chances, we had chances and [it’s] amazing. First trophy as the Liverpool captain – it’s all for the fans so let’s enjoy it.
“You should always savour the good moments and this is definitely one of them. We will never take these things for granted, we are very, very blessed and you see today as well that it could have been the other way, we could have lost.
“But we didn’t, we did the job, even with all the problems that we had before the game and during the game – and yeah, I am so proud. I’m always proud to be part of this club but especially proud of the boys. They all played their part so it’s all credit to the team.”
Topics: Liverpool, Virgil Van Dijk, Premier League, Manchester United, Carabao Cup, Football, Fan Reactions
Chris Byfield