VIRGIL VAN DIJK SAYS IT WILL TAKE A COLLECTIVE EFFORT TO STOP LIONEL MESSI
Virgil van dijk says liverpool need
a collective effort to stop lionel messi in their champions league showdown
with barcelona.
Liverpool set up a semi-final
date with Messi and company next month by winning 4-1 in Porto on Wednesday for
a comfortable 6-1 aggregate success.
Barcelona booked their
semi-final spot by beating Manchester United 4-0 on aggregate, Messi scoring
twice in Tuesday's 3-0 home win to extend his incredible goals tally to 45 in
42 games this season.
"It's going to be very hard (to stop Messi)," Van Dijk
told the club's official website.
"I think he's the best
player in the world but we'll see. It's going to be a great match-up for all of
us.
"It's about doing it all together, it's never one-v-one,
it's never just me against a particular striker.
"It's always us against
everyone and I think that's the only way we can defend well."
Liverpool's comprehensive win
in Portugal marked the return of Van Dijk's fellow center back joe gomez
The 21-year-old England international made his first senior
appearance since December following a leg fracture when he came on as a
second-half substitute.
"We haven't really
thought about it (the Barcelona tie) until now," Gomez said.
"It'll be a difficult
game. They're one of the best in the world, clearly, and they've probably got
the best player in the world and many others around him.
"So it's going to be a
difficult game, but that's what the Champions League is about.
"You don't get this far to have easy games and we know you
have to earn your place in the next round."
Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah,
Roberto Firmino and Van Dijk were all on target as Liverpool, beaten finalists
last season, eased into the final four again.
Jurgen Klopp's side have now
won eight straight games in their pursuit of a Champions League and Premier
League double.
"We had to be fully
prepared for them to come out strong and it was difficult in the first 30
minutes," Gomez said.
"But we managed to get a goal and then the boys saw it out
and it was a good result in the end.
"In our eyes it was 0-0
and we couldn't come into the game thinking 'Let's just see it out and try and
not let them score and see it out as a 0-0'.
"We knew we had to treat
this as a separate game and play as we always do."
Liverpool will travel to
Barcelona for the first leg of the semi-final on May 1, with the return at
Anfield six days later.
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