The FA Cup is the one trophy that Jurgen Klopp is yet to lift with this Liverpool squad, who are regarded by many as one of the best the club has ever had in its long, illustrious history. Virgil van Dijk is ready to put that right on Saturday.
Liverpool take on Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday at Wembley giving the Reds the chance to win the famous competition for the first time since 2006.
Jurgen Klopp 's side are on course to record one of the most successful seasons ever by an English club and it will all come to an end in Paris when they take on Real Madrid in the Champions League final. But, first, Van Dijk is relishing the opportunity to get his hands on the FA Cup.
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"It’s a special competition," Van Dijk told Liverpoolfc.com. “Obviously we didn’t achieve enough over the last couple of years to be close to the final, unfortunately, for different reasons. But now we are in the final and we want to make it a special one.
"This is the only trophy we didn’t win so far as a group of players since I’ve been at the club. Now we have a big chance – against a fantastic Chelsea.
"It has been maybe too long ago since the last time we won it as a club. We have a good chance to get this in our cabinet as well. We know how tough it’s going to be, we’ve seen already in the Carabao Cup final. We’ll see. We’ll go there and hopefully [have] a fantastic day out again."
Liverpool took on Chelsea in the final of the Carabao Cup at the end of February and it took a penalty shootout to separate the two sides as Kepa Arrizabalaga blazed his spot kick over the bar.
Van Dijk spoke about how difficult it is to face Chelsea: "The individual quality is a big thing. They have different ways to play against you, attack you and create dangerous moments.
"They have different moments they are also very good at; quality in midfield, up front, behind. They are a complete team. This last part of the season they haven’t been as consistent as they obviously wish to be – could be through injuries, different things, setbacks they had with [being] knocked out of the Champions League.
"But it doesn’t really matter in this final. This final is going to be one game, both teams want to win it as much as possible. It’s going to be a very tough and good game."
