Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final colossus Virgil van Dijk bit back at critics with ‘they said I was finished’ comment… so do the stats post-ACL injury show he’s more dominant than ever?

With a rush of blood to the head, Jordan Pickford sprinted off his line, his eyes fixated on a loose ball inside his penalty area. Standing in his way was Virgil van Dijk, the defender firmly planted into the ground and unable to give way.

Pickford took off into mid-air and powered through the defender, his studs raised over the ball. Van Dijk collapsed in a heap and was forced out of the Merseyside derby with just 10 minutes on the clock. He would go on to miss almost a year. 

The collision with his knee resulted in a sickening crunch, ruling Van Dijk out for 254 days and a grand total of 57 matches. His absence resonated deeply at Anfield.

As a result, Van Dijk was sidelined until the following pre-season. The club appeared to slump around him, with an unthinkable chain of events resulting in Jurgen Klopp losing all his senior centre backs, one by one, to injuries that ended their campaigns.

Virgil van Dijk is perhaps in the form of his life after leading Liverpool to the Carabao Cup

Van Dijk crashed home a header deep inside extra time to secure the trophy for the Reds

The silverware lift marked his rise to all-new heights four years on from his serious injury

Once he’d reached the dressing room, he discovered he could no longer walk. Later, a physio provided the update he had been dreading. ‘It’s bad news,’ they said.

In his own words, Van Dijk admitted his world collapsed in on itself. 

However, after tears and toil, he has returned, perhaps better than ever before. He echoed this sentiment after winning the Carabao Cup at Wembley, his first trophy as the club’s captain. It was fitting, of course, that he was the man to head the winner. 

‘They thought I was finished,’ he said, glaring down a camera in the dressing room. These critics, many of whom have gone strangely quiet, couldn’t have been more wrong. This is no Lazarus story, but Van Dijk has clearly rediscovered his former self.

So, what do the exact numbers say?

In short, Van Dijk has won more aerial duels than any other Premier League defender this season and has been dribbled past the least. The Rolls-Royce moniker, so lavishly sprinkled over too many modern day centre backs, certainly applies here.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford clattered into Van Dijk in 2020, ruling him out for months

But Van Dijk battled through a wobble in form to achieve career-best numbers this season

Van Dijk bit back at his critics during his side’s post-match celebrations in the dressing room

Delve deeper, beneath the surface, and Van Dijk’s statistics get better and better. He is winning more duels than before his injury and completing more tackles. He has been dribbled past just once in 24 league games this season – a formidable record.

Before his injury, he was beaten by a dribble once every 11 games. After his return, it was one in four. He is also yet to make an error this season leading to a shot or goal. The term flawless is bandied about, but Van Dijk ticks that box – and then some.

He is notoriously hard to beat. Erling Haaland, perhaps the top-flight’s strongest forward owing to his hulking shoulders and unmatched physicality, admitted Van Dijk is the best defender he has played against. That is high praise indeed.

Van Dijk endured a dip post-recovery but is now, at the very least, back to his best. Between 2018 and 2020, when Liverpool won the Premier League and the Champions League in back-to-back seasons, he faced 54 dribble attempts.

Just one of those was successful.

But in the next three seasons, campaigns largely played out after his injury, 23 of 89 attempted dribbles were successful. This, in a microcosm, captures the red-hot form before his setback and his wobbles as he climbed the path back to greatness.

Van Dijk is almost impossible to beat in the air and has proven a match for superstar attackers

He is rarely dribbled past and has been beaten by an opponent just once so far this campaign

The table below has neatly broken down Van Dijk’s key statistics across three separate spells –  before his injury, 2021-22 to 2022-23 and this season. Areas such as dribbles, errors, duel success and tackles per 90 were scrutinised in detail.

Before his injury, a spell between 2018 and late 2020, Van Dijk played 95 games in the Premier League. He was dribbled past just eight times. He made five errors leading to shots, with three mistakes in dangerous positions resulting in a goal.

His overall duel success in the top-flight stood at an impressive 74 per cent, with his aerial duel success also 74 per cent. He recorded 0.84 tackles per 90 minutes and 1.1 interceptions, on average, every game. These are truly impressive numbers.

His levels dropped off during the two seasons after his injury, however.

In the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, Van Dijk played a reduced total of 66 games. He was dribbled past 16 times, double the amount from the previous spell and in almost 30 fewer games, somewhat denting his untouchable status.

He did make fewer errors, however.  Just three mistakes led to shots and two slip-ups resulted in goals. His duel success percentage was a fraction lower at 72 per cent, but his aerial duel success was higher at 76 per cent, a two per cent improvement.

There were fewer tackles and interceptions per 90. 

Van Dijk has also chalked up his best-ever numbers at Liverpool in numerous other key areas

It is little wonder that Jurgen Klopp thanked the heavens for the resurgence of his captain

But this season, Van Dijk has ascended above his previous heroics. His numbers are staggering and represent an improvement across every department. In the 24 league games so far, he has been dribbled past just once by an opponent.

That figure, applied over the same amount of time as his pre-injury spell, would see him beaten approximately four times in almost 100 games. 

He has not yet made an error leading to a shot or goal and his duel success percentages across the board are higher than ever before. For the first time at Liverpool, his average number of tackles per 90 is above one, standing at 1.16.

Finally, his average number of interceptions per 90 is 1.24, his best feat in this area.

It is no surprise, then, that Jurgen Klopp was left thanking the heavens back in December, when Van Dijk’s steady climb to lofty new heights was clear for all to see.

‘Everyone can see Virg is back and it’s obvious,’ Klopp proclaimed. ‘Thank God!’ 

And as Van Dijk craned every inch of his frame to guide home the winning goal at Wembley at the weekend, he provided another reminder that he’s not done yet.