Goodbye legend, won everything with Liverpool and now surprisingly will not play for the club again

With a great game from Virgil Van Dijk, scorer of one of his team's two goals and key in his team's defensive framework, Liverpool won 0-2 against Sheffield United and maintained the distance of two points behind leaders Arsenal, who on Tuesday did not fail in their match against Luton (3-4). Stuck in the build-up against the Premier League's bottom side, Liverpool relied on their inspirational centre-back for the opening goal to break the deadlock. He did so late in the first half, volleying home Alexander-Arnold's corner to emerge as the best of Jürgen Klopp's side.

It was not complicated. Only Szoboszlai, who closed the scoring in stoppage time, vied with the Dutchman to snatch the man-of-the-match trophy. But before all the celebrations, Sheffield Wednesday, in need of points, had more bite than Liverpool. Especially in the first 45 minutes, in which Van Dijk made his name bigger and gave himself his first real joy this season with his goal-scoring debut, which he celebrated with gusto. Klopp, with a full infirmary (Alisson, Bajcetic, Diogo Jota, Matip, Robertson and Thiago), came out of the blocks with his work to do. Especially in the first half, when only Van Dijk's clear-cut chance was enough to secure the three points.

Sheffield had their best minutes in the opening 45 minutes. In them, Van Dijk showed that he is still one of the best centre-backs in the world. He stopped almost everything, he was deadly, but he could not prevent a chance for McAtee, who had his team's clearest chance with a shot from inside the box that Kelleher saved. That was pretty much the end of the game for Sheffield Wednesday.  In the end, it was not only Van Dijk who hit the target. Szoboszlai finished off a counter-attack in the 95th minute and Liverpool needed no more. They had just four clear-cut chances and hit the target twice. It was enough to keep them in the title race and to keep them in touch with leaders Arsenal, who are still a couple of points clear of one of their biggest rivals.

Farewell legend

The bad news came after the win when, at a press conference, Jurgen Klopp confirmed that legend Joel Matip will miss the rest of the season due to a torn knee ligament, meaning he will not play for the club again as his contract is up and it is practically a given that he will not be renewed. Matip won every title available with Liverpool.