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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Virgil van Dijk may well be at the midway point of the most important week of Liverpool's season but the captain, true to the terrace anthem created in his honour, is a picture of calm at the AXA Training Centre.

Decked out in training apparel and sipping on a specially-made smoothie, complete with name tag on - which, he reveals, contains only oranges and a "splash of ginger" - the Reds skipper is in a relaxed mood as he meets a handful of reporters to preview Sunday's Carabao Cup final with Newcastle United.

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After fronting up at the end of virtually every game for a number of years now, it is perhaps the familiarity with those he is chatting to that has helped foster such an informal, conversational atmosphere, but it's also clear Liverpool's No.4 is determined not to place too much pressure on either himself or his team-mates ahead of a second successive Carabao Cup final.



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And when a game of such importance comes into focus on the back of a bruising Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, a tranquil, level-headed approach is important.

Van Dijk, who chats for around 30 minutes in the AXA's commercial lounge, muses on a range of topics from his pride at being captain for club and country, his willingness to go above and beyond for head coach Arne Slot and, inevitably with his contract due to expire, his long-term future.

It is when the 33-year-old is asked how he spent his Thursday off, however, that he really comes alive.

Wataru Endo added to the woes, post-match, by leaving Wembley on crutches and in a protective boot.

Despite a team full of fledglings though, it was Van Dijk's extra-time header that settled it the Reds' way as they secured a record 11th League Cup and ensured Jurgen Klopp ended his final year in charge by adding to the club's lengthy honours' list.

Van Dijk says: "To be a match winner as a defender on a special evening like that, where obviously we were playing against a good Chelsea, conceding chances against us, but Caoimh Kelleher had a fantastic game, youngsters are coming on.

"Obviously Jurgen leaving, and me scoring in the early stages of the game (before seeing it ruled out), and then eventually scoring the winner, I think it was a special evening.

But at that time, obviously, it was very frustrating for each one of us, but the players who were there had to deliver, and you still are good enough to play on the highest level if you play for Liverpool in my opinion.

I was happy that I could do it."

As Liverpool head to Wembley once more with a 15-point advantage over Arsenal ahead of the weekend's action in the Premier League, it's easy to forget the apprehension many felt when the relatively unheralded Slot replaced the iconic Klopp last summer.

Van Dijk remembers pledging his allegiance to his compatriot while on holiday, telling him in their first phone conversation that he was willing to be a sounding board; on call for all his new boss' queries around the rigours of English football.

"For me, personally, the very first conversation I had with him, after the Euros when I was on holiday," Van Dijk recalls.

You get judged at a club like Liverpool at what you win at the end of the road and we have to keep working."

Van Dijk is nearing the end of his second season as club captain, having replaced Jordan Henderson in the summer of 2023 by appointment of Klopp.

"Obviously as a football player, of course, but just to be where I am today with all the hard work, and obviously talent is there, a bit of luck is there, but mostly it's the hard work and people around me that are very important in the way to where I am today.

"I said it many times, I think, to be in a position now where I'm the captain of Liverpool Football Club, but also of Holland, these things I would have never imagined when I was younger.

"I think [being known as a great] is not something for me to say about myself, but I think if you were to lift the two trophies, obviously we are still in the competition, I think you have a pretty good chance to be in a nice list of captains that have achieved great things in this club.

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"That's obviously a big dream of mine, since I became the captain of the club.
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