Van Dijk tells Liverpool FC teammates how to stop Erling Haaland and Man City

Liverpool defender, Virgil van Dijk has warned his team about Manchester City’s Erling Haaland ahead of both sides’ Premier League tie this weekend.

Jurgen Klopp’s side will head into the game at Anfield full of confidence following their 7-1 victory over Rangers in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

But Liverpool will face their toughest test in the Premier League this weekend as Haaland and City travel to Anfield.

Haaland leads the way in the Premier League this season with 15 goals and Van Dijk believes it will require a team effort to stop the Norway international from adding to that tally.

“It’s definitely not easy – he’s been on fire, you can’t say anything else,” Van Dijk said on Wednesday of stopping Haaland, in conversation with TV2.

“I remember after the Community Shield where a lot of people have been writing him off, I remember I was saying, ‘listen, this guy is going to cause so many defenders nightmares’. He’s shown it, he’s been showing a consistent level and obviously in a team like City where chances will always come.”

Asked how Liverpool will plan to stop Haaland, Van Dijk identified that cutting his supply will be key to keeping the Norwegian out – although he accepts that doing so won’t be easy either.

He explained: “We have to try to stop the balls going to him, defend at the highest level, and be at our best, and that’s what we always have to be against City and that’s not going to be any different on Sunday.

“It’s something we should look forward to, it’s definitely not me against him, it’s all of us versus all of them. It’s the outside world that creates battles, one versus one and all this stuff. We want to stop them scoring, regardless of who it is on the pitch. But we know he’s quite good.”

However, Van Dijk stopped short of saying whether he felt Haaland is the best player in the world at present, offering a diplomatic answer ahead of their meeting on Sunday.

“‘Wow, I know for a fact he’s scoring a lot of goals for fun and that’s very important to win games and that’s been showing,” Van Dijk replied. “He’s a very good goalscorer, let’s keep it that way, and hopefully we can stop him from scoring on Sunday, we need to be at our very best to do that, but like I said, it’s all of us versus all of them.”