Graeme Souness is backing Virgil van Dijk to produce a superb performance against Manchester City and their talismanic forward Erling Haaland on Sunday afternoon.
Liverpool take on the Premier League champions at Anfield and will be keen to avoid defeat after a tough start to the season. Jurgen Klopp's side are currently 11th in the table, 13 points behind City in second and 14 behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.
The Reds started their campaign by beating Pep Guardiola's side 3-1 in the Community Shield at Leicester's King Power Stadium in July. Souness believes Van Dijk can take inspiration from that day, as the Dutch defender has struggled to show his best form since.
"Haaland looks like a modern robot and the question everyone will be asking this weekend is how can Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk deal with him?" asked former Liverpool captain Souness in his Daily Mail column. "With difficulty, is the facile answer."
Van Dijk is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in Europe, winning UEFA's Men's Player of the Year award three years ago. He enjoyed a superb 2021/22 campaign, helping Liverpool win the FA Cup and EFL Cup - as well as reach the Champions League final.
He will do well to keep Haaland quiet on Sunday afternoon, though. The Norwegian is in unbelievable form, scoring 20 goals in just 13 games this season. Remarkably, 15 of those goals have come in the Premier League - a ridiculously high tally for this point in the term.
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Souness added: "Irrespective of Van Dijk’s form, irrespective of where Liverpool are at the moment, this is a game he should be licking his lips for. He’s going to be playing against the guy they’re all raving about. He can shut them up. Shut out all that white noise."
The Scot then wrote: " When it came to playing, I made it personal. At Wembley [King Power Stadium] in the Community Shield, Haaland accidentally flattened Van Dijk at one stage with a flailing arm. That would have been more than enough motivation for me."
Yet Souness added: "I’m not sure Van Dijk is that kind of character, though. I’m yet to see him angry. He just looks like a movie star at times. I don’t think that’s a conscious thing. I just don’t think that anger is in him and I don’t think it’s the kind of individual he is."
Van Dijk helped Liverpool beat Champions League rivals Rangers 7-1 at Ibrox on Wednesday evening. Speaking after the game, he said: "It's not a bad thing winning 7-1 here.
"I think from the outside point of view obviously everyone expected us to win here, but we take it a game at a time. We know that we are in a tough period, and we take it game by game - that's how we approached tonight.
"That's how we will approach the big one [against City] on Sunday. They're on fantastic form, it's always difficult games against each other for both sides. We'll prepare well, recover and be ready for Sunday."
