NY Times · Jan 5, 2018
For Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool, a Winning Start
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk, left, beat Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and his teammate Joël Matip to the ball to score the winning goal in his Reds debut on Friday.LIVERPOOL, England — For most of 90 minutes, every eye at Anfield was trained on Virgil van Dijk. Even in the white heat of a Merseyside derby — and a knockout, winner-takes-all one, at that — the world’s most expensive defender managed to attract attention. His every header was cheered, his every pass judged, his movement analyzed and assessed. He will not have spent an evening under more intense scrutiny.