Virgil van Dijk says that the performance of Liverpool's replacements were just as important as the remarkable representation of goalkeeper Alisson Becker in the 1-0 Champions League victory in Paris Saint-Germain.
The hosts dominated for great periods of the last-16 of Wednesday evening, first leg binding in the French capital, and registered a remarkable 27 shots at Goal to Liverpool's Two.
But in Alisson they came across an inspired keeper who delivered what he would later admit was the best performance of his life, with Harvey Elliott then rubbed salt in French wounds when he scored the winning goal for three minutes in time, making Liverpool an advantage to bring Anfield.
Van Dijk insists that the draw is not nearly over, but greeted the impact of Elliott and the other three Reds -substitutes caused by manager Arne Slot.
“It is never easy to get away from home in the Champions League, especially against one side with as much quality and intensity as PSG,” Van Dijk writes in his program potential for the Premier League collision with Southampton.
“We even knew before a ball was kicked that there would be times where we should suffer, and that we should show character, resilience and togetherness.
“We have shown all those things, and of course it helps you in my opinion the best keeper in the world in your team. Alisson Becker has often saved us in the past and his performance in Paris was certainly another special one to add to his collection.
“However, I have to emphasize that it is always a team effort when we win games. And again, you saw on Wednesday evening that players could come from the bank and have a positive impact for us.
“Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez also combined for the winning goal, but also do not see about the contributions of Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones. They showed exactly the right attitude that came in a tough competition and helped to secure the advantage for us.
“Of course the job still has to be finished in Anfield next week. It is just the peace and there is still a lot of work to do. We expect a really difficult test in the second stage, but for that we have the visit of Southampton to what I hope that an extremely noisy and lively Anfield will be.”
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