Liverpool star Van Dijk explains why Leeds will cause problems for rivals

Virgil van Dijk paid compliments to Leeds for making life difficult for Liverpool in their season opener.

Liverpool’s defence of their Premier League title began with a clash against last season’s Championship winners, Leeds United.

And it was quite the spectacle, with Leeds equalising three times before Mohamed Salah completed his hat-trick to give Liverpool a 4-3 win.

Van Dijk had a mixed afternoon, scoring one of Liverpool’s goals but also being at fault for one of Leeds’.

After the match, the Dutch defender admitted it had been an “intense” and “tough” challenge – backing Leeds to cause problems for more teams this season.

“I enjoyed the win for sure,” van Dijk told Match of the Day. “We knew it was going to be very intense and we knew it was going to be tough.

“It’s early on in the season and there are many things we can improve. We will work on it.

“It’s totally what we expected from Leeds. At times we could have done better but the most important thing is the three points.

“Leeds are going to cause a lot of teams problems because of the way they play. Credit to them.”

Klopp reacts to a ‘proper spectacle’

Meanwhile, boss Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for both Liverpool and Leeds after a game he described as “a proper spectacle”.

Klopp told Sky Sports: “What a game, what an opponent, what a performance from both teams. A proper spectacle, I loved that.

“It is pretty rare you see that many goals in a game. We have left space for improvement in our defending but that is not unusual for a first game.”

Read his full comments here…