Virgil van Dijk singles out two Liverpool team-mates ahead of crunch Man City clash

Virgil van Dijk praised the "incredible" energy that in-form Dominik Szoboszlai brings to Liverpool as the Reds captain urged the Hungary international to maintain his impressive consistency. Szoboszlai has established himself as a crucial player under Arne Slot and has emerged as one of the standout performers at Anfield this campaign.

The midfielder once again impressed as Liverpool defeated Real Madrid 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with his precise delivery creating the opening for Alexis Mac Allister to nod home the decisive goal after the break. The adaptable Szoboszlai has already featured in three distinct roles this term, stepping in as an emergency right-back whilst also operating in both deeper and more attacking midfield positions. Van Dijk has been thoroughly impressed with his team-mate's versatility ahead of Sunday's crucial clash with Manchester City at the Etihad.

"What you see is what you get from Dom," Van Dijk said. "He is very important. The energy he brings on the pitch is incredible, the quality that he has is outstanding and like you said he is learning each and every game and he is developing into the player we all feel like he could be."

"He is already showing that for the country he is playing for and it is about keeping on doing it for the rest of the season. So far he has had a great start to the season and he has to keep going. Keep your head down and keep performing.

"It was a good game, a lot of hard work, good opportunities, defensively we were very solid and a great win. That's it.

"After the first half against Palace [in the league] it was quite low as well, but we all know that you get an opportunity every three or four days to turn it around and we won tonight. It was a good performance and now we have to focus on Man City.

"It will be a similar game as tonight a little bit. We are facing a very in form team like today and a striker, like today, who was in form. When that happens you have to be spot on and I think we showed we were good as a team defensively.

"We created good opportunities and they had a goalkeeper (Thibaut Courtois) that saved them a couple of times."

Van Dijk also had words of praise for Conor Bradley, who delivered a superb display to help neutralise Brazil international Vinicius Junior throughout the encounter.

"Conor was very good," he added. "Outstanding. Last year, he got injured in this game but today he held his own against one of the best wingers in recent times. So, he was outstanding.

"For everyone that is the challenge, the intensity of the games is incredible so you have to look after yourself and now he obviously played two good games, like the rest of the team, and now it is recovery and onto the next one. Then it is the international break and after that we go again."