Reaction'A great day' - Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk assess Liverpool 2-0 Man City

An excellent assist from Salah teed up Cody Gakpo to put the Reds ahead amid a dominant first half from the hosts at Anfield on Sunday evening.

The No.11 then converted a late penalty to seal a 2-0 result for Arne Slot’s side, who have now won 18 of their 20 fixtures in all competitions this season.

• Read our match report from Anfield here

Post-match, Salah and Van Dijk spoke to Sky Sports – read a summary of their reaction below…

On Liverpool being at it from the first minute today…

Salah: It’s crazy, the fans were behind us from the first minute. I’m glad we managed to win the game. We knew City were going to come and try to win the game here but we managed to play a good game and win the game.

On whether the Reds sensed a ‘vulnerability’ in City…

Van Dijk: After the game it’s always easy to say these things. I think City are a fantastic team, four times champions in a row and they have quality to punish any team. I think we were very solid defensively. Offensively we did our part as well, we created good chances and could have scored more. So, overall, it has been a great day. Now we recover and be ready for another game on Wednesday.

On the quality of Liverpool’s first goal…

Salah: We train well to always be [set up so] if you have the ball, the [player on the] other side has to be at the second post. I told Cody before the game, every time I have the ball and there’s a chance for me to play the ball to you I will play it for sure. I gave him a few balls this season, him and Lucho [Luis Diaz] as well. We train that ball in training – that we managed to do it in a game is great.

On how special days like these and Anfield are…

Salah: It’s very special. I’ve said before, I don’t take it for granted. I’m enjoying every minute here, it feels like home. It’s always a special feeling scoring at Anfield and winning games.

On whether he is enjoying it even more at the moment, with his own future in mind…

Salah: Of course. Honestly, that was in my head, that until now this is the last City game I play for Liverpool so I’m just going to enjoy it. The atmosphere was incredible, I’m enjoying every second here. Hopefully we just win the league and see what will happen.

On how significant it is to be 11 points ahead of City and nine clear of Arsenal in second…

Van Dijk: We focus on the next one, that’s the only thing we can do. There’s no point at this stage of the season to get ahead of ourselves. Obviously everyone wants to be in a position where they are, in this case, 11 points in front of the opponent today, but there are so many twists and turns. Now we have some injuries as well to our team unfortunately, and we have to deal with that as well. It’s game by game and stay calm. But games like this, when you win it like this, is always a good feeling. Now we’re back to recovery and be ready for a very tough one away.