There was a period under Jurgen Klopp where Liverpool seemed virtually ubeatable.
On the way to the Premier League title in 2020, the Reds had at one stage collected 103 points from 105 available.
Taking in an unbeaten run of 43 matches, Liverpool sometimes felt to have already won before a ball had been kicked.
Although they don’t quite retain that same aura right now, plenty who made up the backbone of that brilliant group of players remain at Anfield.
And according to Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, there is one member of the Liverpool squad in particular who just exudes class every time you come up against him.
Antoine Semenyo hails Virgil van Dijk ‘aura’
Semenyo has had a relatively good time of it against Liverpool since joining Bournemouth in January 2023.
The 24-year-old won in his first outing against the Reds in March of the same year before scoring at Anfield in August.
However, Semenyo claimed that there was another moment that stands out in his mind from facing Liverpool; coming up against Virgil van Dijk.
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Van Dijk is a colossus of a defender. So, when Semenyo was asked to name the hardest defender he’d ever faced for the Earn Your Stripes TikTok channel, it was no surprise to hear him pick the Liverpool captain.
“Hardest defender I’d say Virgil van Dijk,” says the 24-year-old. “That year that I signed we beat them 2-0 [1-0] and I came on in that game. I remember running in behind and all I can hear is that man’s footsteps. Dum, dum dum, chasing me.
“All I’m thinking is ‘this guy’s fast! He’s six foot four, six foot five and he is fast! Like, he’s got presence, you can hear him coming.
“I’m trying to focus and get my shot across and he puts me off completely. His aura just puts me off. I dragged the ball wide and I’m thinking ‘ah man.’ But it’s tough.”
Virgil van Dijk loses out on Liverpool Player of the Season
For almost all Premier League attackers of this era, the answer to this question will surely be Van Dijk.
The 32-year-old has been the best defender in the division for the last seven or eight years. Van Dijk even has a claim to be one of the best players in the world, full stop.
After a disappointing season in 2022/23, the Dutchman has once again made a convincing case for that title this term.
Having been so good for so much of the campaign, Van Dijk deserved the Liverpool Player of the Season gong. However, he lost out to Mohamed Salah.
Not that Virgil will be all that bothered, really. The kind of testimony Semenyo has given about him is arguably worth more than any award.
Attackers fear the Liverpool No.4 simply for his presence on the pitch. You have to be a special kind of footballer to instil that kind of attitude in the opposition. And Van Dijk absolutely is.