Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk on how Celtic shaped everything for him as he makes Ibrox quip

A couple of years in a career spanning almost 13 might not seem that significant. For Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, though, the two he spent with Celtic from 2013 impacted all that has followed in his glittering career.

The 31-year-old has cause to recall his stint in Scottish football through preparing to take to a Glasgow football pitch for the first time since a £13m deal took him from Celtic to Southampton on September 1, 2015. The circumstances will be very different from his old days in the country that followed a £2.5m move from FC Gronigen as his heavyweight team are hosted by Rangers in Wednesday’s Champions League encounter. The concluding part of a double header that follows the comprehensive 2-0 victory for Jurgen Klopp’s men on their own patch last week.

Merely travelling back to Glasgow, where he hasn’t been since he left, will stir warm reminiscences and a sense of gratitude for van Dijk. “Glasgow means a lot, and it will be good to see old friends,” said the Netherlands international. “It was my first time going abroad, my first time winning trophies, and all of those things were massive to me. They shaped me, how I am as a person. I have my daughter who was born there. So many good memories that I will cherish forever so it will be great to go back and I hope we will get the win as well.

“I [learned so much]. I played for FC Groningen for a long time, they are a mid-table club and sometimes you defend a lot, sometimes you can attack. But not like what I was used to at Celtic. At Celtic, the pressure was immense. If you draw you’ve lost. You had to win and that was something, that mentality, I definitely learned. But it was also learning how to play the British style with more direct, channel balls, a lot of fighting, headers. It was something I wasn’t really used to in Holland so it definitely helped me in order to be ready for my next step in the Premier League.

“Celtic was 100 per cent similar to Liverpool and that is maybe one of the reasons that I picked Liverpool [in 2019] as well. I really feel that my step to Celtic was something based on a feeling with the fans, the club, the community and that it really feels like it is a way of living at Celtic. With Liverpool, it is exactly the same. When I had the choice to pick between Liverpool and other clubs, for me it was quite clear that I wanted to come here. I play here and I feel like I play for a lot of people and their lives. I am really proud of being a part of Celtic and Liverpool.”

Van Dijk never played at Ibrox for Celtic, with the Rangers that emerged from liquidation in 2012 then working up the leagues. But he knows the home crowd on Wednesday also won’t forget his past days in Glasgow. “You think so?!” he said, with a smile. “It happens and you have to accept it. The only thing I can do is focus on the game and that is what I will do.”

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