‘Something special’: Van Dijk hails Liverpool record breaker Salah

Virgil van Dijk believes it is impossible to overstate Mo Salah’s importance to Liverpool and has emphasised the Egypt striker’s record-breaking contribution during Sunday’s demolition of Manchester United was “special”.

Van Dijk and his teammates moved to within three points of the Premier League’s top four after thrashing United 7-0, with Salah, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez scoring two goals apiece before Roberto Firmino added the seventh.

In the process Salah became Liverpool’s leading all-time Premier League goalscorer, leapfrogging Robbie Fowler as he registered his 128th and 129th league goals. “Mo showed why he is so important for this football club, definitely,” said Van Dijk. “He’s been very influential with everything positive over the last couple of years and hopefully he can keep that going.

“For him to be the all time Premier League top scorer for Liverpool is something no one should take for granted. He definitely shouldn’t and I won’t. He should not just brush it off because it’s something special.”

The Netherlands defender had similarly warm words for Gakpo and Núñez, Salah’s partners in Jürgen Klopp’s front three. “I think a lot of those goals were world class,” said Van Dijk, before expressing particular delight at his international teammate Gakpo’s display in the wake of the forward’s initially slow-burn January arrival from PSV Eindhoven. “The winter’s a difficult time for any player to come into any club but he’s settling in very well. It’s a difficult position to play. He has to keep going, keep the confidence, keep the belief. I think he will be fine for this club; he’s a fantastic player.”

Núñez arrived from Benfica last summer and soon found himself in the midst of the team’s unexpected struggles