In his book Liverpool, about a city, a club & a father Writer James Worthy secretly scatters his father’s ashes on the Anfield grass, near the corner flag. During a game, after a corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold, he asks, “How are you feeling now, Dad?” He hears his Liverpool-born father say, ‘I feel like Virgil van Dijk.’
In an explanation Worthy, a Liverpool supporter in more than heart and soul, says: ‘Liverpool have had to wait 30 years for a championship. Thirty years. There was a lot of pain. Liverpool was the club of that beautiful song. Faded glory. Thanks in part to Virgil’s arrival, the pain is gone. He’s paracetamol on football boots.’
Although Van Dijk recently felt a twinge of pain in the back of his knee and missed a few matches, he is fit enough to play his third Champions League final in five years in Paris on Saturday. Lost one, to Real Madrid in 2018. Won one, from Tottenham Hotspur a year later.
revenge
In Paris, the time may be ripe for revenge against Madrid. In 2018, Real defender Sergio Ramos injured Liverpool striker Mo Salah with a judo-like throw and Ramos gave goalkeeper Loris Karius a concussion. Things never quite worked out for the goalkeeper, not during the final and not with his career. Karim Benzema opened the score on a gaffe by Karius, who later also fired a shot from Gareth Bale; 3-1.
At the time, Benzema was Cristiano Ronaldo’s aide. Now the Frenchman has spread his wings and, at the age of 34, is the best striker in Europe and top scorer in the Champions League with 15 goals. He is a favorite for the Golden Ball.
Van Dijk, who nearly won the most important individual trophy three years ago by a few points behind Lionel Messi, is trying to rein in the Frenchman on Saturday at the Stade de France as one of Liverpool’s two central defenders.
Van Dijk – Benzema is a duel in the match, between the born super talent Benzema and the relative late bloomer Van Dijk. Between the smart, sometimes apparently absent, suddenly sharp striker and the strong, proud, calm-looking defender who occasionally makes a laconic impression, who is back to the level before a serious knee injury.
Whether James Worthy is afraid that Benzema will outflank Van Dijk? “I definitely feel a form of fear when Benzema is on the field, but this fear largely disappears when Van Dijk is on that same field. In any case, I don’t really think Benzema is a striker who outflanks. He is not an outflank. I think he’s more of a spider or something. During matches he often hangs in a corner of a web. He strikes when he wants to strike. And when he strikes, it’s done. Benzema has divine fangs.’
Total World Class
Writer Henk Spaan is considered an ardent supporter of Benzema. He has sung about the Frenchman several times with the pen. He recalls a goal during a duel with Glasgow Rangers in 2007, with his previous club Olympique Lyon. In old images, the still beardless Benzema takes the ball around the center circle. He spins away, dribbles, is too fast for two defenders and shoots the ball diagonally, low into the corner. “Total world class.”
Spaan realizes that for years at Real Benzema acted in the shadow of Ronaldo, an even bigger star in the firmament of football. Benzema’s game has given Ronaldo countless goals. His ego didn’t have to play up. Why not? Maybe it was insecurity or modesty. Or maybe deep down he knew he was better. It wasn’t until Ronaldo left for Juventus that we saw just how good Benzema really is. He is number 10 and striker at the same time. He mounts an attack, and two seconds later he scores. He has the pass of a number 10 and can finish as a number 9.’
Van Dijk will have a hard time, thinks Spaan, who compares the Frenchman’s take on the ball with that of Zinedine Zidane. ‘It is impossible to eliminate Benzema completely, also because he is lowering himself. Then Van Dijk will not follow him all the way to midfield.’ Spaan also notices that Benzema sometimes sinks a bit in the course of the match, that he becomes invisible because he seems tired. ‘But suddenly he starts up again. That’s how he scored many of his important goals in the Champions League.”
Benzema is the fully developed super talent from Lyon’s training. Former top footballer Rafael van der Vaart played football for Real Madrid in 2008, when Benzema and Ronaldo made their entrance at the club. Van der Vaart remembers that in the beginning he looked more at Benzema than at Ronaldo. “His assumption, the turning away, it was unbelievable.” That Benzema acted as a distractor from Ronaldo for years, so be it. That’s how it works in a team. Neymar also played for Messi at Barcelona.”
Roy Makaay, former striker of Bayern Munich, Deportivo La Coruña and Orange, among others: ‘Benzema has skyrocketed after Ronaldo’s departure, but in a sense that is unimportant. Football is a team sport. Together they were a great duo at Madrid. Look what they won. Four times the Champions League. And now he is having a fantastic season. Every time you thought it was over with Real, when the side against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea or Manchester City fell behind and was sometimes turned upside down, then he reappeared. He is complete, in everything. As a team player, as a point of reference. He can score a goal out of nothing. Van Dijk will have to stay focused for ninety minutes. One moment of carelessness and the ball is in the net.’
Body of God given
And it is precisely that laconic nature that sticks to Van Dijk, partly because he always radiates intense calm. Calm, with the sometimes somewhat ironic smile at the corners of his mouth, interspersed with the drive with which he shows the way and puts teammates in their place at other times. Van Dijk plays football like a ruler. Worthy: “It’s definitely weird for a grown man like me to talk about what a footballer means to him, but Virgil has given me a lot in recent years. Hope, joy, certainty, pride. Everything that people in politics should give me, I get from a boy from Breda.’
It’s like playing football doesn’t cost him any effort. Unlike Benzema, whose talent was soon recognised, Van Dijk gradually rose to the top of the world. Kees Kwakman, former teammate at FC Groningen: ‘He has followed the perfect route. Groningen, Celtic get used to British football, Southampton, Liverpool.’
Kwakman has always been surprised that he was not picked up by the Dutch top at the time. Together they formed the center of FC Groningen’s defense for a while. ‘At that time I was never called by scouts or trainers to talk about Van Dijk’s qualities. Despite a few injuries and an inflamed appendix that threw him way back, he was already so good back then. His passing. headlines. He didn’t lose an aerial duel. His speed too. How can people say he’s not fast? He was always the fastest, with Bacuna. At one point, we noticed that he could pull it off at 50, 60 percent during training. He was no longer stimulated by us. I remember he came back after that inflamed appendix. He had lost a lot of weight and got even better. That body is God-given.’
Of course, that doesn’t mean he has Benzema in his bag on Saturday. Kwakman: ‘He’s so smart. He stays out of the duels, sometimes lowers himself and then chooses position in front of the goal to complete the withdrawn cross. Stopping him will be a challenge for Virgil’ However highly he considers Van Dijk, one moment of inattention is fatal. And that laconic, that sticks to him. That’s also because it seems easy for him. Kwakman: ‘Even when Mbappe approaches him, he seems to say: come on.’
Worthy: ‘His calmness is almost hypnotic. It doesn’t do adrenaline or stress. You see him very little sprinting. He plays soccer as if he were walking on the beach. If you’re in the right place, you’ll never have to sprint. That’s Virgil. Delightful calm.’
Numbers, Benzema
Top scorer 2021-2022 Champions League: 1. Benzema 15, 2. Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 13, 3. Haller (Ajax) 11, 4. Salah (Liverpool) 8.
Most shots: 1. Benzema 46, 2. Mahrez (Manchester City) 37, 3. Sané (Bayern) and Salah 34.
All-time top scorers, Champions League: 1. Ronaldo (Manchester United) 140, 2. Messi (PSG) 125, 3. Benzema and Lewandowski 86.
Figures, Van Dijk
Success rate personal duels 2021-2022: 1. Van Dijk, 8 matches, 54 personal duels, 44 won, 81 percent. 2. Rugani (Juventus), 4 matches, 15 matches, 12 won, 80 percent. 3. Matic (Manchester United), 8 games, 14 games, 11 won, 79 percent.
Most minutes without being dribbled by: 1. Van Dijk 720 minutes, 0 times, 2. Stones (Manchester City) 637, 0, 3. Maguire (Manchester United) 534, 0 times. Figures from Statsperform.