Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg and Virgil Van Dijk’s Southampton roots before Champions League reunion | OneFootball

Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg and Virgil Van Dijk meet on Wednesday in the Champions League, leaders of Marseille and Liverpool, but their rise began together at Southampton.

According to L'Équipe, they were team-mates on the south coast, Van Dijk from 2015 to 2017 and Höjbjerg between 2016 and 2020, a period that accelerated both careers.

At his Tuesday press conference, Höjbjerg struck a nostalgic tone, praising Van Dijk’s elite standards and leadership, and urging young players to study his preparation and training.

In 2016, manager Claude Puel showed Van Dijk clips of great centre-backs and told him he needed to change aspects of his game. The defender initially bristled, then returned from international duty applying the ideas, and over the next four months he took off.

Liverpool monitored him, but an ankle issue and Southampton’s stance kept him in place at that point.

Höjbjerg, fresh from Bayern and earlier loans, brought fierce competitiveness. A training drill with Oriol Romeu became so heated that coaches cut the session short.

Both quickly became St Mary’s favourites. Van Dijk’s mobility, technique and authority stood out, while Höjbjerg’s intelligence and fight made him a midfield fulcrum. They later left for Liverpool and Tottenham and have crossed paths regularly since, with another reunion at 21:00 on Wednesday.

Source: L'Équipe