Liverpool enjoyed their best game of pre-season so far with a 5-0 win over RB Leipzig and there were so many moments for fans to enjoy.
From Salah scoring the opener in cool fashion to Darwin Nunez scoring FOUR to Fabio Carvalho’s clever cushioned header to beat Amadou Haidara in midfield to Stefan Bajcetic showing he’s not out of place in the Liverpool midfield, we were spoiled.
While it was a friendly, us supporters don’t care and loved every minute of it.
Virgil van Dijk plays in first gear even in the Premier League but he pulled a rabbit out of his hat with a pass that I reckon was as far as 85 yards, setting Mohamed Salah away.
Van Dijk is unreal pic.twitter.com/zbH8cl0FK0
— 🇦🇷 (@tashaaa2000) July 21, 2022
After losing 3-1 to Liverpool in September 2020, Mikel Arteta warned that playing against van Dijk and Salah is extremely difficult purely for their ability to combine in this manner.
He said: “When you get past the Liverpool press, you then hit Van Dijk. He then hits a 60-yard pass to Mo Salah, and they are out of the press. Wow. That is quality.”
Playing on the left and moving the ball onto his right foot, the Dutchman is able to regularly change the whole approach of attack and cut out the probing in midfield by going long.
Hopefully, with Darwin Nunez likely to occupy two centre-backs at times, Salah will regularly be able to run in behind to latch onto van Dijk’s passes.
He will need to do better than his tame effort at goal against RB Leipzig on this occasion but it’s encouraging to see that link-up already in pre-season.
