What Virgil van Dijk did immediately after Cody Gakpo goal speaks volumes for Liverpool | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk was right at the heart of Liverpool’s pursuit of a first cup final in the Arne Slot era.

The Dutchman was the subject of some early controversy after a coming together with Richarlison left the Brazilian clutching his face and rolling across the Anfield turf.

The 33-year-old skipper’s good name was cleared after a VAR review backed up Craig Pawson’s initial call, seeing no violent conduct worthy of punishment in the first 45 minutes at L4.

Liverpool or Spurs will be set to face Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium after the Magpies secured a 4-0 aggregate win over Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Virgil van Dijk kept standards high at Anfield

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Cody Gakpo was the man to break the deadlock on the red half of Merseyside, taking first blood and equalising the aggregate score with a calmly taken finish inside the 18-yard box.

As the former PSV attacker was seen celebrating his seventh consecutive goal at Anfield, his compatriot Van Dijk was spotted quickly reminding his teammates to return to their own half and pursue another goal.

Footage shared by @asim_lfc on X (formerly Twitter) shows the No.4 beckoning with his arms as the left-winger celebrated with Ibrahima Konate and Co.

Another reason why Liverpool must extend Van Dijk’s contract

Forget, for a moment, Van Dijk’s status as a world-class centre-back – arguably the leading centre-half in Europe and global football.

Can we really do without the peerless leadership qualities of our colossal captain, should Liverpool opt to not offer the former Southampton man a deal deemed acceptable?

Arne Slot appeared to offer some suggestive comments around ongoing talks with all three of our expiring stars (including Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold).

However, from our point of view, it’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll let all three key men depart on free agencies come the summer.

We hope to be proven wrong!

Join our channel of readers on WhatsApp to get the day’s top stories straight to your mobile