Virgil van Dijk is upbeat about Liverpool FC’s future run of form in the upcoming 2020-21 season of football despite the Reds’ succumbing to a defeat to Arsenal in the recent FA Community Shield game on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side came out second best to the Gunners on penalties after drawing 1-1 with the North London outfit after 90 minutes. Rhian Brewster was the sole Liverpool FC player who missed his spot-kick, and with Arsenal maintain their perfect record, Mikel Arteta’s men clinched the curtain-raiser tournament shield.
However, the 29-year old center-back, who enjoyed a decent showing against his Saturday’s opponents, insisted that a loss in the latest Wembley showdown will do no harm to the Anfield giants’ Premier League title defense this coming campaign.
‘During the whole game we played well, dominated, pressed them well and created many chances.
‘We had a massive chance with Millie, obviously my disallowed goal and a couple of dangerous moments but if you look at the game as a whole I think we created many chances that we should have done better maybe.’
The Dutch international recalled last summer’s result which had seen the Reds lose the same tournament fixture to Manchester City. Jurgen Klopp’s men had lost on penalties as well last time around but had enjoyed a superb 2019-20 league campaign, storming to the elusive Premier League title with 99 points.
‘We are disappointed but we have to move on. Last year we lost on penalties as well and we won the league so we shouldn’t panic, but obviously we wanted to win today.
Liverpool FC kick off their 2020-21 Premier League season against newly-promoted Leeds United on 12th September. Van Dijk and his teammates will be hopeful of getting off to a great start across their calendar year of football and successfully defending their league title crown.
