Virgil van Dijk has spoken out about what happened in the Liverpool locker room before halftime after the Reds were down two goals against Villareal on Tuesday, May 3. The Reds eventually scored three goals in the second half to win the game 5-2 on aggregate.
Villarreal fought back from a two-goal deficit in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final to tie the aggregate score before halftime in the second leg, shocking the Reds and their fans. The hosts were attacking with vigour, and it appeared as if the underdogs would knock the visitors out of the Champions League against all odds.
However, Liverpool rallied in the second half, stunning the Yellow Submarine and scoring three goals to finish the tie with a 5-2 aggregate score.
Speaking to BT Sport (via Express), Van Dijk revealed Jurgen Klopp’s halftime words which inspired the comeback that saw the Reds take a seat in the Champions League final:
“[He said] Play football, play the Liverpool way, basically how we’ve been playing all season.”
“Get on the ball, have a lot of movements on the ball but also behind the last line, they play a high line.”
“So with the speed we have, we have to mix that up as well.”
“But also you have to show how much you want to go to the final.”
“That’s how it started and second half we dominated and played so well.”
Now that the Reds are in the final, they will have face Real Madrid after the Spanish club knocked Manchester city out in spectacular fashion on Wednesday (May 4) night at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The finals will take place in Paris on May 28.