Liverpool: Video of Virgil van Dijk giving defensive masterclass is fascinating

Virgil van Dijk is one of the greatest defenders of the modern era.

When the Liverpool juggernaut wasn’t missing out on Ballon d’Or glory by a nose hair, he was going an entire club season without being dribbled past in what has been a legendary spell at Anfield.

While Van Dijk’s world-class potential was always simmering away at Celtic and Southampton, it was the Dutchman’s record-breaking move to Merseyside that truly launched him into the stratosphere.

Under Jurgen Klopp’s stewardship and with Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold by his side, Van Dijk has been an absolute juggernaut on the way to the Reds’ Champions League and Premier League triumphs.

All that being said, one of the skills that means that Van Dijk is compared to other defensive greats like Nemanja Vidic and Sergio Ramos is the fact that he can hold his own, well, on his own.

Even if a world-class team or a top-level player has bypassed every single outfield Liverpool player other than Van Dijk, you still know there’s a very good chance that they’ll never make it to the goalkeeper.

You only have to look at his iconic one-or-one defending against Kylian Mbappe at full pace vs France to get the idea that Van Dijk is one of the most intelligent and technically-able defenders in the business.

Marry that to his genius handling of a 2v1 situation against Tottenham Hotspur in 2019 and it’s not hard to establish that Van Dijk is the footballing equivalent of a brick wall when it comes to dribbling past.  

And if that’s a footballing trope that arouses your interest, then you’re in luck because Van Dijk revealed some of his key tips for one-on-one defending during a recent video with the F2 Freestylers.

The Liverpool hero broke down how he defends