Van Dijk wishes he had Matip's quality after defenders net in Leeds rout
Virgil van Dijk says he is jealous of Joel Matip's quality after the latter's superb goal against Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United.
Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk hailed Joel Matip after both men found the net in a 6-0 thrashing of Leeds United, saying he wishes he had his defensive partner's technical ability.
Between two Mohamed Salah penalties, Matip strode forward to open his account for the season with a superb goal, while Van Dijk later completed the scoring after Sadio Mane had struck twice against the strugglers.
The dominant victory moved Jurgen Klopp's men to within three points of the Premier League summit, while Van Dijk and Matip contributed to Liverpool's 14th Premier League clean sheet of the campaign – only leaders Manchester City (15) have more.
However, it was Matip's dribbling ability that came in for praise from his partner, after the German defender's fantastic goal.
"It [dribbling out from the back] is a big quality of his," Van Dijk told the club's website after the win. "I wish I had that quality at times.
"He just can go without any fear at all and hope for the best a little bit.
"But he has that quality. It's a big strength of his and obviously it's useful because it drags other players from their position. Today, obviously, the space was there to make that run and finish it off.
"I said to him before the game I felt it coming because he had an assist for Diogo [Jota, in a recent 2-0 win over Leicester] and I said, 'A goal is next!'
"So I'm obviously very happy for him."
