Virgil van Dijk: The whole squad helped us reach the final
Virgil van Dijk saluted those players who stepped up to the plate in Liverpool's dramatic victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday.
With Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino ruled out of the Anfield affair through injury, Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri made the most of their starting berths.
Origi netted the first and fourth of the Reds' goals in the 4-0 win, while Shaqiri provided the assist for Georginio Wijnaldum's towering header that wiped away the Spaniard's three-goal advantage from the first leg.
The leveller was Wijnaldum's second goal within the space of 122 seconds after coming on as a half-time substitute to replace the injured Andy Robertson.
And Van Dijk believes the trio's impact was down to the quality and team-first mentality the entire squad holds.
"I think Divock was unbelievable, Shaq was a different level," the centre-half told Liverpoolfc.com. "Everyone has the confidence to fill in the job.
"Obviously everyone has different qualities but you have to use them and today we showed it a lot.
"Divock was outstanding and was very important for us, keeping the ball. If you see how Gini comes on after obviously a little disappointment of not starting, I think it's outstanding.
"We can all be proud because everyone plays a part in it."
Liverpool will participate in their second successive Champions League final and face either Ajax or Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid on June 1.
Van Dijk feels the disappointment of last season's defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev can aid the club in its quest for a sixth European Cup.
He said: "I think the experience will definitely help us a little bit. But if you look at both teams, they are great teams to face.
"We are going to try to do everything that's possible to win it. But it's a final and we know anything can happen. We'll see what's going to happen."