'Training with Salah has made me a better defender'

A lot was said about Virgil Van Dijk's price tag when Liverpool broke the world-record fee for a defender to bring him to the club in January, however if you ask Liverpool fans now, they will tell you just how much of an impact the £75million man has had on the Reds' defence since his arrival. Van Dijk has overseen five clean sheets in Liverpool's last eight games, and looks an assured presence in the back line.

As reported by the 'Daily Mail', he has given credit to Mo Salah for his performances, explaining that playing against the Egyptian in training has improved his game. "It's good stuff training against Salah," he said. "It makes you better."

"In training, I think I am playing against the best three forwards in Europe, together with a couple of guys in Spain."

It is a bold claim to put Salah and co. in the same bracket as that 'couple of guys' in Spain, i.e. Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, however on this season's form it is hard to argue with the Dutchman.

Salah is level with Messi (29 league goals each) at the top of of the European Golden Boot rankings, and just like Ronaldo, Salah, Firmino and Mane have all been in strong goalscoring form to shoot their respective sides into the Champions League semi-finals. Ronaldo is top of the Champions League scoring table (15), however next in the pack are Firmino and Salah on 8 goals apiece, and Mane is only one goal behind on 7.

It's good news for Van Dijk. "They are just making me better," he continued. "You learn a lot. He (Salah) is in very good form!"

The Dutchman also gives the front three credit for the defensive work that they put in. "The guys up there start our defensive work because they make sure they press up front to make it difficult for their attackers to get the ball," he stated.

"They put so much work in even though scoring is obviously the main thing for them."