Virgil Van Dijk has given an emotional statement ahead of the Champions League final.
Liverpool will make their second appearance in two years in the Champions League final. The scoreline might have read otherwise at Kyiv last summer, but the whole team matched Real Madrid on the field, except for Loris Karius, who committed two howlers to hand over the trophy to the record champions.
Virgil Van Dijk was part of the pushing train with Liverpool last season, but the Dutch International claims that he used it as an ‘experience’. He wants to make use of that part to attain glory this term.
When he was asked about the prospect of playing in back-to-back Champions League final, he said: “It sounds pretty good! We worked hard this season, the season is almost over but obviously we have one big final push left and we are going to give everything that we have got and will see what it’s going to bring us.”
“Last year’s final, I didn’t watch anything back, to be fair, besides the goals. They show them everywhere so you can’t miss them. It was a very tough day, but there were so many lessons out of that day. It’s not like, ‘I could have done this better’, it was more like the experience and everything that happened over that night. I took so many things with me. To be there this year again is something special and we are going to give everything that we have, and hopefully that’s enough.” said Van Dijk.
Van Dijk was crowned as the PFA Player of the year for an extraordinary campaign. When Liverpool were caught for tap-up allegations, he had offers from other European powerhouses, but he turned them down to play for Liverpool.
The 27-year-old says that he is proud to wear the Liverpool jersey every single day.
“Yes, it’s my club definitely and I’m very proud to be wearing this shirt every day. But it’s also one of the reasons when I came here – how everyone lives around Liverpool, lives and dies for the club, want to do everything for us, will be there in tough times. They will also be with us in the good times.”
“I think this is a real football club and you don’t have too many at this level that are living and breathing for a club like Liverpool. It was a very important decision [for me] to make, but so far it has gone pretty well.”
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Liverpool will take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final at Wanda Metropolitano on June 1.
