Virgil van Dijk walked away from interview after being left ‘angered’ by Erling Haaland
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland will come up against Virgil van Dijk once again when his side face Liverpool on Sunday with the Norwegian previously giving the Dutchman plenty of problems.
Virgil van Dijk was once so angered by an Erling Haaland display that he walked away from an interview.
The Manchester City star will head to Anfield on Sunday in sensational form as he continues to light up the Premier League. He already has 15 goals in the league, but his trip to Merseyside will not be his first. The Norwegian played there during his Red Bull Salzburg days as he begun to put himself on the map.
It was with the Austrian side that he introduced himself to the Champions League. He started on the bench as Salzburg headed to Liverpool in October 2019, but came off to score as his side notched three times. The young forward was a handful for a back four that included Van Dijk.
Liverpool would go on to win the contest 4-3, but Haaland continued to cause problems for the hosts. Afterwards Van Dijk was interviewed by former Norway star Jan Aage Fjortoft, who quizzed him on the forward.
Fjortoft told the Blood Red podcast: “The first time I saw him [Haaland] live was at Anfield when he came on and I was amazed that this young kid created so much space. He scored one goal but he could have had three or four – he was unbelievable. I was amazed how he created space and how I define that is how his runs are wise and experienced.
“After the game, I interviewed Van Dijk, who I always like to interview because he is a gentleman, and I said ‘I have to ask you about the Norwegian, Erling Haland’ and he just said: ‘Well, we won the game’. So I said ‘Yes, but what do you think about him?’.
“Van Dijk said: ‘I didn’t see a lot of him’ and he was a bit angry because there was some mistakes done and I said ‘It’s a good sign for a striker when a defender says he didn’t see him!’ – and then he just went away.”
Haaland’s game has come on since then with the forward excelling at Borussia Dortmund before his summer move to Manchester. Already he has hit three hat-tricks, one in the Manchester derby, and will now be eyeing a Liverpool backline that has been far from solid.
Jurgen Klopp has already laid out the plan for stopping the relentless forward, stating: “Special plans against Haaland? Like always, obviously when you play against, for sure in the moment, the best striker in the world, you have to make sure that he doesn’t get that many balls – and that’s what you have to defend before you come into the challenge with him, so that’s what we will try.”
