Virgil Van Dijk Praises Chelsea After Liverpool’s FA Cup Triumph

• Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk praises Chelsea after the two sides played in an engrossing FA Cup final on Saturday
• The towering defender believes that Chelsea has quality players after the game required post-match penalties for the two sides to be separated
• Van Dijk played for 90 minutes but was substituted off at the start of extra time with Joel Matip taking his place

Virgil Van Dijk has heaped praise on Chelsea after their entertaining FA Cup final over the weekend. Liverpool won on post-match penalties after a goalless 90 minutes and a similar extra time.

Despite beating them in the second domestic cup final, Van Dijk credited Chelsea for going the full length. The two sides have met each other four times this season with only penalties being the tiebreaker.

You have to admit that Chelsea are a fantastic side. They have quality players all over the pitch, so we have to be ready to suffer and I think we did that.

Revealed! The top 10 most skilled footballers in the world right now

Football

Obviously, they created some dangerous moments and we had to defend that. Its something that we expected and if we score one it could be a different game, and the same if they score one as well, that’s how football works.

The Chelsea Chronicle reports that Van Dijk lasted the whole 90 minutes of the final but did not participate in the extra time. Joel Matip took the place of the former Southampton defender. He has been a key player under Jurgen Klopp, helping them to recent successes in the Champions League and the Premier League.

He suffered a nasty injury at the start of last season which kept him out of the entire campaign. In his absence, Liverpool failed to lodge any meaningful defence of their title as Manchester City ran away with the league.

This season, the 31-year-old hopes to lead The Reds to further glory. He will have the uphill task of containing the red-hot Karim Benzema when they play Real Madrid in the Champions League final. The Jurgen Klopp side will also hope to cut City’s lead on top of the table to just a single point when they play Southampton on Tuesday.

Fascinating facts about the top 10 Manchester United managers of all time

Football

Mane consoles Mendy in a heartwarming moment

Sports Brief also reported that Sadio Mane consoled his international teammate Edouard Mendy after the shootout on Saturday.

Mane’s spot-kick was saved by Mendy but the Senegalese shot-stopped couldn’t keep out Kostas Tsimikas's winning penalty.

Mane headed straight for Mendy as Liverpool players and the technical bench ran into Wembley’s turf to celebrate their second trophy of the season.