As always, it was great to see former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge covering last night’s Carabao Cup semi-final.
Unashamedly himself at all times, Sturridge always brings some personality to proceedings. Last night was no different as he took his seat as a pundit for Sky Sports.
Having already commented on how happy Harvey Elliott looked following Liverpool’s qualification for the final at Fulham’s expense, the 34-year-old was asked about the attitude of Jurgen Klopp’s players during the pre-match warm-up.
“I think when you are warming up and preparing for these types of games, you want to make sure your first touch is good,” Sturridge replied. “All those types of things and you feel like ‘I’m on it today’.”
“When they were on the pitch warming up, you could see the intensity was there. They were in the moment.
“I had Virgil in my ear saying ‘Studge move out the way man, we are trying to do passing here’. It was like the intensity was there. It was a bit of banter but at the same time it’s like ‘we are locked in’.”
Van Dijk fully focused on Fulham
You can imagine that Van Dijk’s little retort to his former teammate was said with a smile on his face. As Sturridge says, a little bit of banter between two men who enjoy the lighter side of the game.
But you can bet that there was a little seriousness to what Virgil was saying, too.
The Reds weren’t there to reconcile with old friends or to take things lightly. This squad are hungry for trophies, whatever they might be. There was a job to do at Fulham and Liverpool were determined to do it.
As captain, Van Dijk personifies this business-like attitude more than any other Reds player.
Last night, he was the only player older than 27 to play any part for the Reds. In a cup semi-final, that’s quite remarkable.
Van Dijk seems to take all of that responsibility in the most relaxed way possible. But he’s still as focused and serious an athlete as you’ll find when it’s time to put the game face on.
Part of that is making sure he and his teammates are as prepared as they can be for each and every game. As Sturridge found out last night’s that something the big man takes very seriously indeed.
