Virgil Van Dijk recorded the fastest sprint in the UCL 2018/19

Virgil Van Dijk beat the likes of Gareth Bale and Leroy Sane to the fastest sprint. 

Virgil Van Dijk is living his dream with Liverpool. The Dutch centre-half, who won the Champions League, lifted the UEFA Player of the Year on a podium which consisted Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 28-year-old’s influence on the current Reds team is out of the explanation. He brings so much calmness in the backline and tutors his teammates from the back when their decision making goes for a toss. He’s currently the third captain at Liverpool after Jordan Henderson and James Milner.

After edging in the group stage, Liverpool were too hard to handle for Bayern Munich and FC Porto in the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals respectively. With a draw against Barcelona meant that Jurgen Klopp’s side had to overcome the team consisting of Lionel Messi.

The English side travelled to Nou Camp for the first leg of the last four. They were far the better side, but they were undone by two genius Lionel Messi moments in the second half. He scored twice in the second half to hand over a hefty lead going into the second leg, before eventually crumbling down to a 4-0 defeat.

However, there was an out of the world moment in the first leg when Virgil Van Dijk ran all the way back from opponent’s half into his half when the hosts broke through the counter-attack, which was successfully fizzled out.

His sprint recorded 34.5 km/hr which narrowly edged out Leroy Sane and Kyle Walker.

Not many times a defender would outpace a forward. It is another favourable trait for the Dutch International.

The Reds have been drawn with Napoli, RB Salzburg, and Genk in the Champions League Group stage this season.

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