Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has had his say about his task of dealing with in-form Manchester City striker Erling Haaland in Sunday’s Premier League clash.
It was a huge win for Liverpool, who got their first consecutive wins since September.
The win was a statement given that they ended La Liga leaders Real Madrid’s six-game winning run across all competitions.
The confidence boost would only help Liverpool, too, ahead of their trip to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium this weekend.
Haaland, who is leading the Premier League goalscoring charts with 13 goals, is clearly the biggest threat to Liverpool’s winning chances.
However, Van Dijk argued that Liverpool had already shown that they could deal with another red-hot striker in Kylian Mbappe.
“Similar to tonight (against Real Madrid) a little bit,” the Netherlands international told [Hayters TV](https://x.com/HaytersTV/status/1986041064646386169) when asked about his expected battles with Manchester City’s Haland at the weekend.
“We faced in this (Real Madrid) team as well a very in-form striker. Today (Mbappe) was in form, as well, so you have to be spot on.
“I think today we showed that we were good as a team defensively and created good opportunities there.
“Obviously, the goalkeeper (Thibaut Courtois) saved them a couple of times.”
Liverpool rank joint-second in terms of goals (18) in the Premier League this season, only two goals behind Manchester City.
It is therefore safe to say that offensively, they are still competing at a high level.
Defensively, it is a different story, however.
Liverpool have conceded 14 goals this season, the joint-ninth worst in the Premier League. Similarly, they have only kept three clean sheets from 10 league matches so far.
While the clean sheet against Real Madrid showed very encouraging signs, unless Liverpool show more consistency in defence, they are at risk of being ruled out of the title race early.