Virgil van Dijk sends 'incredible' message to Liverpool youngsters

Liverpool bosses could be forgiven if they had breathed a huge sigh of relief at the sight of Virgil van Dijk arriving at the AXA Training Centre on Monday morning.

Having lifted his first piece of silverware as Reds captain at Wembley on Sunday, the Dutchman had no intention of letting the League Cup trophy out of his sight. Sure enough, the famous three-handled cup spent the night at Chez Van Dijk.

Having scored the extra-time winner against Chelsea to clinch the trophy in the first place, no-one was going to stop him.

“I did (take it home), yeah,” he told the ECHO and other media outlets after beating Southampton. “I took it after the game because I wanted to show my kids in person as well, close up.

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“Because we arrived at the airport and everyone went, I just took it home. No, no, no (no-one said anything). We won it.

“I put it on the kitchen counter when I came home and left it there. I've got four kids and they were so happy to see it and then I took it back to training. Nothing special.”

Van Dijk arrived at training on Monday morning, trophy in hand. And it was still in the centre-back’s possession after changing into his training-wear.

By taking temporary ownership of the trophy, he inadvertently followed in the footsteps of two of Liverpool’s most legendary captains. Phil Thompson memorably took the European Cup to the Falcon pub in Kirkby after lifting the trophy in Paris in 1981, while the same silverware spent the night in Steven Gerrard’s Istanbul hotel room in 2005.

And the Netherlands international has teased that he hopes to bring more