Celtic fans will long remember Virgil van Dijk as one of the best defenders at the club in the modern era.
Van Dijk joined Celtic in 2013 and from his first-ever game in the green and white Hoops the Parkhead support could see immediately that he was a class act.
The big Dutch defender used to breeze past players and bounce opposition strikers away as van Dijk strolled his way to two Scottish titles and a Scottish Cup at Celtic.
Now at Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish was asked to compare Celtic hero van Dijk to Anfield legend Alan Hansen by Gary Neville.
And Dalglish recounts a story about what the Liverpool captain did at Celtic that he never saw Hansen do during his time at the Anfield club.
Virgil van Dijk’s Celtic goal at St Johnstone is something Alan Hansen ‘never’ did at Liverpool
Dalglish has played with many top defenders during his time at both Celtic and Liverpool. But when asked about van Dijk and Hansen, there was one Hoops memory that the Anfield legend will never forget about.
Dalglish told The Overlap [1h 14m], “He’s probably more physical [van Dijk]. He’s more capable of playing like defensively. If somebody wants to barge into him, it’s no problem.
“So maybe he’s a wee bit stronger than Big Al. But I’ll tell you, if you’ve got either of those two at centre back, you wouldn’t be disappointed. But I don’t know if the two of them could play together because they’re both left-sided, weren’t they?
“Big Al used to come out with the ball at his feet and go like that [hand gesture to players to come forward]. That meant ‘I’m struggling’.
“I remember watching Virgil playing for Celtic and he used to break out from the back and go forward. He scored a goal at St. Johnstone.
“He went forward from his own defensive spot. He went forward, had a couple of dribbles and wrapped it into the net. He could do that.
“I never saw Hansen do that. I saw him try to set me up at Old Trafford. He used to get terrified. He used to get terrified when he went through.”
Van Dijk and Hansen are both legends at Liverpool in their own right but it’s nice to see Dalglish talk up what Celtic players can do that is rarely overlooked by those down south.
The big Dutch defender has been a sensational player for Liverpool, winning a truckload of silverware which includes two Premier League titles and a Champions League.
As for Celtic supporters, they will remember van Dijk as one of the rare number of players who used to practically walk through games in the SPFL.
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