Virgil van Dijk admits he is excited by Liverpool’s new-look forward line after hammering bitter rivals Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield on Sunday evening.
January-signing Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez, both of whom joined the team in June, each scored twice at Anfield on Sunday, and Mohamed Salah also scored twice.
Roberto Firmino, the other scorer, is leaving at the end of the season. Only Mohamed Salah is left from the famous frontline that also included Sadio Mane, who is now at Bayern Munich.
This season, Nunez has scored 14 goals, and Gakpo has scored 4 goals since he came from PSV Eindhoven.
Van Dijk, a defender, said that Liverpool’s goals at Anfield were “world-class,” and he called Gakpo’s first goal “outstanding.”
“Obviously it’s been a difficult time to come in any club, I think, in the winter for any player but he’s settling in very well,” he said. “It’s a very difficult position to play.
“Obviously he learns from one of the best, I think, each and every day with Bobby Firmino. He has to keep going, keep the confidence, keep the belief and stick together.
“I think he will be fine for this club and I mentioned it already before but he’s a fantastic player. Darwin is causing chaos all the time with his speed, his passion and also with the quality.”
Salah scored his 128th and 129th Premier League goals for Liverpool to become the club’s all-time leading scorer in the league.
Van Dijk stated that while defeating their archrivals was gratifying, nobody would dwell on the result as Liverpool pursues a top-four finish following an inconsistent season.
The team managed by Jurgen Klopp is currently fifth in the Premier League, trailing Tottenham by three points with a game in hand.
“We should not take these results for granted but there are many more games to play in order to get what we want — in this case that’s Champions League football and that’s what we focus on,” said Van Dijk, the Netherlands captain.
“We shouldn’t just brush it off like it’s any other day. We won 7-0 in a difficult season that we’ve had. You should be able to stand still and enjoy that a little bit.
“But the focus will turn and it’s another week towards Bournemouth. I think our focus has always been one game at a time and that doesn’t change.”