Virgil van Dijk believes he 'set the bar so high' over the last few years at Liverpool and it makes small errors easier to be criticised.
The Liverpool defender finished inside the top 30 best players in the world in the Ballon d'Or 2022 after finishing second back in 2019, behind Lionel Messi.
Liverpool's number four is set to lead Holland out as captain at the World Cup in Qatar as Van Dijk embarks on his first major tournament with his country.
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Van Dijk was speaking to GQ ahead of the World Cup and the defender highlighted how 'proud' he is to have been recognised by the Ballon d'Or award once again.
"I set the bar over the last couple of seasons so high that small margins of error get measured so big so it's not easy to deal with." Van Dijk said. "So to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or [again in 2022] and be within the best 30 players of last season is something that I'm really proud of."
The Dutch captain also spoke about winning mentality and how you can't succeed without going through setbacks first of all.
"There are so many quotes about 'without losing or without failure you won't succeed', all these things," Van Dijk added. "But it is really like this: you learn from situations that you go through.
“Losing the [2018 Champions League] final in Kyiv was very hard. But then playing the year after the final again in Madrid, knowing what's going to happen, the whole preparation, the whole build-up to the final, then playing the final, managing the final."
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