Virgil van Dijk praises 'composed' Reds after emphatic Rangers win

ReactionVirgil van Dijk praises 'composed' Reds after emphatic Rangers win

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Virgil van Dijk praised his Liverpool teammates for keeping their composure following an emphatic 7-1 Champions League victory over Rangers.

The Reds fell behind in the 17th minute of the Group A clash to a Scott Arfield effort, but Roberto Firmino quickly levelled ahead of the interval at Ibrox.

Jürgen Klopp's men then put together a stunning second-half display, which saw Firmino grab a second alongside a Darwin Nunez strike to gain control.

Mohamed Salah stepped off the bench to record the quickest hat-trick in the history of the competition, and Harvey Elliott - following VAR intervention - struck late on to round off the scoring and cap off an impressive night in Glasgow.

Highlights: Rangers 1-7 Liverpool

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Van Dijk - who partnered Ibrahima Konate in defence on his full return - reflected on the victory to BT Sport post-match.

Read on for a summary below...

On a stunning second-half performance…

Yeah, it was great. I think obviously what we expected definitely happened with the fans behind them, especially in the beginning. They tried to give everything and you have to be very composed and play the ball quick from side to side, between the lines, get on the ball, put your body in between the ball and the player and play with composure. I think at times we did it, in the first half we could have done it better, but second half we did it much more.

On a fantastic performance from Liverpool's attacking players...

Yeah, obviously they had to come - Rangers in this case. So, the spaces will be there if you play it well. The quality they have they showed again tonight. We need it for the rest of the season, of course - good goals.

On whether the victory could be seen as a 'statement'...

It's not a bad thing winning 7-1 here. I think from the outside point of view obviously everyone expected us to win here, but we take it a game at a time. We know that we are in a tough period, and we take it game by game - that's how we approached tonight. That's how we will approach the big one on Sunday [vs Manchester City]. They're on fantastic form, it's always difficult games against each other for both sides. We'll prepare well, recover and be ready for Sunday.

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