Reaction'Something special' - Virgil van Dijk lauds Mohamed Salah's PL goals record

The Egyptian notched a brace in Sunday’s remarkable 7-0 win over Manchester United to surpass Robbie Fowler and move onto 129 top-flight goals for the Reds, a total he has reached in just 205 appearances.

“Mo showed why he is so important for this football club. He’s so influential with everything that’s been going on in a positive way over the years and hopefully he can keep that going,” Van Dijk said.

“For him to be the all-time Premier League top scorer for Liverpool is something no-one should take for granted. He definitely shouldn’t and I won’t. He should not just brush it off because it’s something special.”

Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez also netted twice during Liverpool’s rout of United, with Van Dijk adding: “Very clinical. I think a lot of the goals were world-class.

“The first one, the whole build-up was outstanding. Cody cutting in on to his right foot, a quality finish. Darwin is causing chaos all the time with his speed, his passion and also with quality.”

Jürgen Klopp’s side have now recorded five successive clean sheets in the Premier League while amassing 13 points in that sequence to accelerate their push for a top-four finish.

Van Dijk stated: “I think especially the last three games gave me personally a very good feeling, the way we committed to defending and enjoying that clean sheet.

“Even when you are 4-0, 5-0 up, I think that’s the message to make sure that you don’t concede and stay focused. That was very good.

“We shouldn’t just brush this off like it’s any other day. We won 7-0 after the difficult season that we’ve had. You should be able to stand still and enjoy that a little bit, but on Monday it will be gone. Then the focus will turn towards Bournemouth. That’s the reality and that’s the life we all live.

“It will be tough: 12.30, early kick-off, always difficult there, small stadium. We should be full of confidence but let’s be humble and ready.

“We should not take these results for granted but there are many more games to play in order to get what we want. In this case, that’s Champions League football.”