Virgil Van Dijk Once Walked Away From Interview After Being ‘Angered’ by Erling Haaland

• Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk was once irritated by questions about Erling Haaland after a Champions League match at Anfield
• Haaland was at that time with Austrian champions RB Salzburg when he started to show his early credentials of being a top striker
• Van Dijk and Haaland will meet once again when Manchester City travel to Merseyside to ramp up pressure on Jurgen Klopp's struggling team

Virgil Van Dijk will, on Sunday, 16th October, renew his rivalries with Erling Haaland. After a disappointing start to the season, Van Dijk will be out to save face and reassure all of his credentials as one of the best centre-backs in the world.

He will face Erling Haaland, who has been beyond formidable for Manchester City. The Norwegian striker will look to get past Van Dijk to add to his 15 Premier League goals tally so far.

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The duo have met a couple of times before and as the Mirror reports, there was one incident that seemingly left Van Dijk with a sour taste in his mouth.

Then with RB Salzburg, Haaland made the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in the Champions League group stages. Haaland started from the bench but came on to score once as Liverpool survived a scare from the Austrian champions to win 4-3.

Van Dijk looked irritated with questions about Erling Haaland

The former Borussia Dortmund striker was a menace to Van Dijk's side throughout his short cameo. Afterwards, during a post-match interview with former Norwegian footballer Jan Aage Fjortoft, Van Dijk was not in the mood to discuss Haaland's performance.

Fjortoft explained how their conversation panned out:

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"'I didn't see a lot of him', and he was a bit angry because some mistakes were made, and I said, 'It's a good sign for a striker when a defender says he didn't see him!' - and then he just went away."

Three years later, the duo will again rub shoulders in a Premier League clash. Van Dijk came out on top when Liverpool beat Manchester City in the Community Shield.

Haaland names his childhood heroes while growing up

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Manchester City marksman Erling Haaland has named Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli as two of his childhood heroes growing up.

Haaland is currently the talk of the town owing to his impressive performances since joining Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

He has been so impressive, in fact, that he is well on course to win the Premier League golden boot in his debut season.