Virgil Van Dijk Recorded The Fastest Sprint In The Champions League Last Season

Virgil van Dijk outpaced the likes of Gareth Bale and Leroy Sane to record the fastest sprint in the Champions League last season.

The Liverpool star, 28, was in scintillating form as the Reds finished second in the Premier League and captured Europe's top club prize.

And Van Dijk, who was recently named UEFA Men's Player of the Year, had a 34.5 km/h sprint speed in Liverpool's first-leg semi-final defeat to Barcelona.

His pacey sprint narrowly edged out City star Sane, who recorded a 34.4 km/h speed against Hoffenheim.

Behind Sane and Van Dijk was Kyle Walker clocking in 34.2 km/h against Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-finals, while Real Madrid star Bale came fourth with a 33.8 km/h sprint against Roma.

Former Schalke player Breel Embolo, Benfica's Rafa Silva and Sane (again) all recorded a 33.5 km/h sprint speed in their respective matches.

According to UEFA's technical report, Ajax star Dusan Tadic had the most sprints per match on average compared to any other player.

Tadic's 62.25 puts him far ahead of second-placed Jose Callejon, who recorded 55.83 in the Champions League.

Inter Milan's Marcelo Brozovic was top of the table for the player that had the highest average for distance covered in a match.

Liverpool learned last week that they had been drawn into Group E along with Napoli, Salzburg and Genk for this season's Champions League.

Jurgen Klopp is well aware of the challenge in retaining the Champions League title and the threat posed by Napoli, who beat Liverpool in the away tie of the group stage last season.

"Napoli are obviously a very experienced side and their coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has won the competition," the Reds boss said.

"I will need now to have another, closer look at Genk and Salzburg, but I already know they are very young, very exciting and very fresh, so it will be interesting, 100 per cent."

Will Liverpool retain the Champions League title this season?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Anfield, UEFA Champions League, Football, REds, UEFA, gareth bale, Virgil Van Dijk, Champions League, Leroy Sane

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

@AdnanRiaz9