Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk cannot wait to get his hands on the Premier League trophy at the end of the season — and he is relishing the chance to take part in what should be a spectacular title parade the following day.
The Reds lost their first game since being confirmed as title winners, going down 3-1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. But the away end didn’t stop partying and Ibrahima Konate was spotted dancing in front of it at the final whistle, aptly summing up the positive mood that remains on Merseyside.
“It still feels unreal and it should feel like that,” Van Dijk told reporters. “It shouldn’t die down and in my eyes it won’t. Obviously there’s other games now but it’s all building up now to the 25th and you have to enjoy it. You have to soak it all up.”
On May 25, after the final game of the season has been played, Van Dijk will lift the trophy at Anfield. The following day, he and the rest of the Liverpool players will head around the city on an open-top bus parade.
“There’s a lot of — how do you call it? — I won’t say dreaming because it will be a reality but I can picture it and it will be a very emotional day,” Van Dijk continued.
“My family will be there, my mum, my wife, my kids. But until we get there, we must keep focusing on the games ahead of us and try to win the last three games in front of us.
“Hopefully [it will be] even better than what we had after the Champions League final. I already encouraged everyone to wear red in the last game and keep doing that for the rest of the season because everyone saw how amazing it was.
(Image: HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
“For so many fans and people that have been going to Anfield for so many years it was one of their best days ever, so hopefully the 25th will top that and the parade will be even more crazy than ever and there will be even more people coming from around the world to be in Liverpool to come and be with us.”
Liverpool has done a couple of trophy parades since Van Dijk arrived from Southampton in January 2018. The first was for winning the Champions League, but the second was after losing to Real Madrid, when the Reds celebrated an FA Cup and League Cup double.
“It was a bit strange,” Van Dijk said of the most recent edition, with this one likely to be different. “What I said already, I encouraged everyone that supports Liverpool all around the world to come and celebrate an amazing year in the Premier League that we’ve had. But the day is not there, we still have three games.”
Liverpool went behind early on against Chelsea when Enzo Fernandez was left in acres of space. From there, it never really looked like it was in the contest, even when Van Dijk scored quite late on to halve the deficit.
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With Arne Slot making six changes to his starting XI, handing chances to players including Harvey Elliott and Wataru Endo, both of whom were making their first Premier League starts of the season, things looked a little disjointed.
But while it means little in terms of results with the league title already wrapped up, Van Dijk is insistent that Liverpool will carry on trying to win games. It still has to face Arsenal, Brighton and Crystal Palace.
“You have to analyze it,” he said. “We have to learn from it because we’re winners; we’re all winners and we all want to win big games and not to lose.
“That’s why we have to give everything. To do that we have to be ready, you have to be prepared and give everything — otherwise you are taking the risk of getting injured. I want to keep going. There’s three more games — good games — ahead of us, and let’s see what it brings.”
