Virgil van Dijk is looking to exorcise a few of his demons when Liverpool play Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Wednesday evening.
The newly crowned PFA Player of the Year has had a phenomenal season at the back for Liverpool, marshalling the Merseyside club to having the best defence in the Premier League – a defence which before his £75m arrival in January 2018 was frequently ridiculed for its fragility.
He will lead the Reds into battle at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night charged with stopping Lionel Messi, as well as former Liverpool stars Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho as Jurgen Klopp’s men look to qualify for their second successive Champions League final.
It won’t be the first time that Van Dijk will play at the famous 99,000 seater stadium, although he has unsurprisingly said that he thinks it will be different to his last outing when he was on the wrong end of 6-1 drubbing back in 2013 during his days playing for Celtic.
“It is not like we are going there for a holiday or something,” Van Dijk said according to The Telegraph.
“I think this can be totally different than when I was there the last time.
“If you are losing 6-1, as a defender, you can’t say you had a good game but the good thing for me personally was I took a lot of experience from that night and that helped me, obviously.
“It is an historic stadium and it was my first time and my only time so far, so I am looking forward to playing them again.”
