It was a historic double for the Dutch manager and captain. Not retaining the Eredivisie, though PSV Eindhoven did with Peter Bosz in the dugout and Luuk de Jong wearing the armband. But across the Noordzee, as Arne Slot and Virgil van Dijk became the first head coach and skipper respectively from the Netherlands to win the English title.
As clubs from the same country cannot face each other in the Champions League’s group phase and as Ajax are headed for elimination, Liverpool against PSV could be the closest thing to a Dutch derby in the premier European competition this season. Liverpool have already made a slice of Dutch history in Europe this season: against Atletico Madrid, they became the first non-Dutch club to field four Dutch starters and, fittingly, one of them, Van Dijk, scored the injury-time winner. Slot tried sending out the same quartet of Jeremie Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo and his captain against Galatasaray, with rather less success: Liverpool lost 1-0.
