Virgil van Dijk admits he is envious of the quality of Joel Matip after revealing what he told his Liverpool centre-back partner before his memorable strike against Leeds United.
Matip was finally rewarded for one of his trademark drives upfield by scoring the second goal of the Reds' 6-0 Premier League romp at Anfield on Wednesday evening.
The Cameroonian charged upfield before exchanging passes with Mohamed Salah and finishing confidently inside the area for his first goal since December 2020.
And Van Dijk isn't surprised Matip has eventually profited from his adventure having already made his mark in attack in recent weeks.
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"It's a big quality of him," said the Holland international. "I wish I had that quality at times when you can just go (forward) without any fear and just hope for the best a little bit.
"He has the quality, it's a big strength of him and obviously it's useful because it drags other players from their positions, and space was there to make the run and finish off.
"I said to him already before the game I felt it coming because he had an assist for Diogo (Jota against Leicester City) and I said 'a goal is next'. I'm very happy for him."
Van Dijk added: "Mentally he is in a good place. The four of us - because we can't forget Joe (Gomez), who isn't even in the squad at the moment - we are keeping each other as sharp as we can.
"We need everyone. And it's very good to see Joel is fit and is playing at a high level, and obviously when I play with him, Ibou (Konate) or Joe it's always good to be out there together and work out."
Van Dijk headed in his third goal of the season to complete the rout against Leeds after Mohamed Salah had netted two first-half penalties and Sadio Mane scored twice after the break.
Salah now has 27 goals in 31 appearances this season - along with 10 assists - and Van Dijk said: "He is chasing records but he knows that first and foremost we want to achieve good things during the season and he has a big part to play in that with his goals, but also his defending, his work-rate and stuff.
"Today he should have had a hat-trick if we are hard on him!
"But two more goals, Sadio two goals again, an incredible game for them and something to build on and hopefully take with us to the cup final."
The win was perfect preparation for Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley with Liverpool looking to win the competition for a record ninth time.
And Van Dijk said to LFC TV: "I'm looking forward to it a lot. It is going to be tough. Chelsea are a very, very good team.
"Tactical-wise they have a clear plan and it's going to be interesting (to see) how they will beat us. But we will prepare well and recover from Wednesday and give everything that we have got on the weekend.
"Hopefully it's going to be a good day but no doubt it's going to be very hard."
