Van Dijk was on the Southampton side that knocked out Liverpool in the 2017 EFL Cup

Virgil van Dijk returns to St. Mary's Stadium. The Liverpool captain knows the home of Southampton all too well. The one he called home between 2015, when he arrived from Celtic, and 2017, when the Reds came knocking on his door months after wiping him out in the EFL Cup.

The two paths cross again. This time, in the Cup quarter-finals. It so happens that the Dutch defender knows what it means to beat the team with which he made the leap in his professional career and leave them on the brink of a final wearing the armband that is now the enemy's.

Eleven January 2017. Claude Puel's Southampton beat Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool 1-0 with Nathan Redmond goal. The ‘17’ formed a defensive partnership with Maya Yoshida and they managed to dry the offensive creation of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge or Divock Origi.

In the second leg at Anfield, Shane Long made it 0-1 and 0-2 on aggregate. In the last meeting between Saints and Reds in the EFL Cup, Virgil van Dijk did not take part. Seven years later, history repeats itself with the protagonist on the other side.

 

December 17, 2024