Virgil van Dijk believes Diogo Jota’s numbers 'speak for themselves' after the Liverpool forward fired his side into the Carabao Cup final.
Jota scored in either half as Liverpool claimed a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday night.
After last week’s 0-0 draw at Anfield in the first leg, it was all to play for in the capital, and although Arsenal started brightly, the Reds were ultimately just too good for them in the end.
Jota opened the scoring after just 19 minutes when his scuffed shot after a fine run beat scrambling Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale.
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The forward’s second goal came with 15 minutes remaining, however he was made to wait for a VAR review after his effort was initially ruled out for offside.
“Diogo Jota is already a fantastic player, the numbers speak for themselves,” the Dutchman told BBC Radio 5 Live after the game.
“He is very important, he has shown it from last year and is a difficult striker/winger to play against. I know it from training. He stepped up again tonight.
“He took the second goal fantastically well, a great ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold and it put relief in the team.
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“If it was 1-0 in the last 10 minutes it might have been tricky. We controlled the game overall and did not have massive chances.”
Liverpool will now face Chelsea in the final at Wembley at the end of February, after Thomas Tuchel’s side overcame Tottenham Hotspur in their semi-final tie.
The game will be Van Dijk’s first domestic cup final with the Reds, and although he acknowledges Chelsea are an outstanding team, he believes his side have enough to triumph at Wembley.
"We managed the game well. Obviously we had moments under pressure but after that we did very well. It's well deserved us going to Wembley,” he told Viaplay.
"We all look forward to playing in the final. We knew it would be tough today but we was full of confidence. Obviously we are capable of playing such a good game and I think we did.
“You shouldn't do different things. You should be calm. Everybody knew this was never going to be easy so in the moments they created chaos we needed to stay calm and cool.”
Before Van Dijk concluded: "I think we all want to win trophies first and foremost. I think we will see what it brings this season and the final will be tough. We will look forward to the challenge. All we can do is concentrate on the game ahead of us.
"They are a fantastic team, they have fantastic individual quality, good squad, good manager. We have the qualities to make it very tough for them and to beat them."
