Virgil van Dijk was heading home to mark his latest Liverpool milestone.
“Very proud. My family were here today so it was a special day,” he told reporters following Saturday’s comfortable 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town at Anfield. “I might get a glass of red wine tonight just to celebrate, me and my wife. But that’s it. The focus is then on the next game.”
Liverpool’s talismanic captain became the 65th player in the club’s history to reach 300 appearances, but his win percentage of 69.7 puts him in a class of his own. When that impressive statistic was put to the Netherlands international, his response was typically self-deprecating.
“It shows I did quite well up until now. But it’s down to everyone involved: the players, the managers, and the fans,” he said. “It’s a good stat to have. We will keep going.”
Saturday was win number 209 for Van Dijk at Liverpool with 47 draws and 44 defeats. The only source of frustration was that Jacob Greaves’ late consolation denied him a 120th clean sheet.
Others have dominated the conversation during Arne Slot’s first season in charge — from the goalscoring heroics of Mohamed Salah to the surprise emergence of Ryan Gravenberch as the midfield linchpin.
But Van Dijk is the most indispensable part of this slick…
