Jurgen Klopp launched a scathing broadside at pundit and ex-Netherlands international Rafael van der Vaart after the latter’s damning criticism of Virgil van Dijk in recent days.
The former Tottenham Hotspur playmaker was unimpressed with the Liverpool captain in the Oranje’s 2-2 draw against Japan last weekend, saying on NOS (via GOAL) that the 34-year-old turns ‘like a Boeing 747’ in a withering assessment of his pace.
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The Reds centre-back started once more on Saturday as Ronald Koeman’s side made light work of Sweden in a 5-1 thrashing, albeit one which featured a slight injury scare for our inspirational number 4.
Klopp hits back at Van der Vaart over Van Dijk criticism
Speaking as a pundit for German TV on that game, Klopp fired back at Van der Vaart over his comments about Van Dijk a few days ago.
The former Liverpool manager said (via Daily Mail): “I don’t know if it’s worth naming Rafael van der Vaart at all, but if he ever says something positive about a player, I’m willing to take him seriously again.
“You have the feeling that he sees something, which then has to be expressed in a flowery way and then he goes against it, but it’s not that important.”
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Van der Vaart has been quite outspoken in his punditry
Van der Vaart has been rather outspoken during this World Cup, finding himself at the centre of racism allegations after saying that the Japan players ‘all look alike‘ (a remark for which he subsequently apologised) and accusing Klopp of ‘suffocating’ Cody Gakpo’s talent at Liverpool and ‘treating him like a utility knife instead of the scalpel he is’ (via @Vfynn_ on X).
Van Dijk wasn’t perfect against Sweden on Saturday – his positioning was questionable on a couple of occasions and he was nutmegged by Alexander Isak at one point – but there were plenty of positives to his performance too, as evidenced by figures from Sofascore.
Passes completed 75/79 (91%) Clearances 8 Accurate long balls 2/2 Possession lost 4 (from 91 touches)
Klopp was clearly incensed by the Dutch pundit’s criticism of the Reds captain, who he managed at Anfield for six-and-a-half years, and felt compelled to hit back at the 43-year-old in public, and we suspect the tit-for-tat mightn’t finish there.
Not that the Netherlands skipper will be paying much attention as he and his teammates focus on the task of finishing Group F with a win over already eliminated Tunisia and maintaining momentum into the knockout rounds of the World Cup.
Van Dijk can’t control what the likes of Van der Vaart say about him, but he can influence proccedings on the pitch, and a player of his experience and temperament will gently allow the storm to rage on thousands of miles away from the Oranje’s base camp in North America.