Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is looking forward to winning the FIFA Club World Cup for his side and feels the experience will be something new for him and his teammates.
Van Dijk, who helped Liverpool to win the title of the Champions League last season, lost to FC Barcelona star forward Lionel Messi in the 2019 Ballon d’Or race recently. Along with the English Premier League, where Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of the table without losing a match yet, they will take part in the Club World Cup starting December 11 in Qatar.
Jurgen Klopp’s side will open their campaign on December 18 and their opponents could be drawn from one of three confederations: AFC (Al-Sadd Sports Club), OFC (Hienghene Sport) or Concacaf (Monterrey).
“For me personally, it’s something new,” van Dijk told FIFA in an interview.
“And I think for almost everyone in our team (at Liverpool) it’s something new. I think this squad can be the first Liverpool side to win the Club World Cup. It’ll be a great experience. We’re all looking forward to going out there and hopefully get that trophy as well.”
“It will be a big challenge, it will be something that we haven’t experienced before,” he said.
“We’re at the stage right now where we have the experience of playing international football (with our national teams). We have players who’ve played all over the world anyway. It’s going to be a totally different challenge for us, but it’s something that we’re definitely looking forward to.”