Virgil van Dijk celebrates scoring the winning goal for Liverpool on debut against Everton. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
Virgil van Dijk celebrates scoring the winning goal for Liverpool on debut against Everton. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
Virgil van Dijk celebrates scoring the winning goal for Liverpool on debut against Everton. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
Virgil van Dijk celebrates scoring the winning goal for Liverpool on debut against Everton. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images

Klopp praises Van Dijk after 'fairy-tale' start to life at Liverpool in FA Cup


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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Virgil van Dijk will get even better after he scored the winning goal against Everton in a "fairy-tale" Merseyside derby debut.

Van Dijk headed home six minutes from full time to give Liverpool a 2-1 victory in their FA Cup third-round tie with the Toffees after Gylfi Sigurdsson had cancelled out James Milner's opener from the penalty spot.

The Dutchman became the most expensive defender in the world when he joined Liverpool from Southampton for £75 million (Dh369.6m) this month and Klopp could not be happier with his contribution in his first match for the Reds.

"Fairy-tale in a world with not a lot of fairy tales anymore, so I think something like that is quite special," said the Liverpool manager.

"It was a difficult decision to make to be honest because, to be 100 per cent honest, the first plan was not to start him but then Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so I changed my mind .

"It was a big fight, it was not brilliant football, it was not the most beauty - it was how cup games should be. It is not about who is the better side, who can do this or that. Things like this can happen sometimes, but it is pretty rare."

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Van Dijk was a commanding presence at the heart of Liverpool's defence, although Klopp thinks the centre-back has only given a glimpse of his qualities as he predicted the best is yet to come from the Netherlands international.

"He showed a lot of things we want him to show in the future very often," Klopp said.

"Heading of course, football-wise his first touch was good, good under pressure and then around set pieces a proper threat," he added, praising Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for his corner.

"I think first of all we should help him just to be as good as he is already because that's why we took him. You don't pay that amount of money for a player and think 'OK, we can get another 80 per cent', but of course there is room for improvement.

"But the first improvement will be to adapt really to the team, how we deal in different situations. But as I said, since he is in, we spoke more about it and we did it actually on the pitch."

Everton manager Sam Allardyce felt his side had done enough at Anfield to earn a replay after a battling display.

"I'm very disappointed we're not going back to Goodison and trying to get through to the next round," he said.

"We may have saved it late on and I think it was a brilliant effort from the players, even though we're disappointed.

"The performance deserved us to be able to take them back to our place, but that's not to be."

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Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

ESSENTIALS

The flights

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The hotels

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The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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Emirates exiles

Will Wilson is not the first player to have attained high-class representative honours after first learning to play rugby on the playing fields of UAE.

Jonny Macdonald
Abu Dhabi-born and raised, the current Jebel Ali Dragons assistant coach was selected to play for Scotland at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2011.

Jordan Onojaife
Having started rugby by chance when the Jumeirah College team were short of players, he later won the World Under 20 Championship with England.

Devante Onojaife
Followed older brother Jordan into England age-group rugby, as well as the pro game at Northampton Saints, but recently switched allegiance to Scotland.

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Bharatanatyam

A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.

The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder

Transmission: six-speed manual

Power: 395bhp

Torque: 420Nm

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Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder

Power: 220 and 280 horsepower

Torque: 350 and 360Nm

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

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VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

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Engine: 2-litre

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 255hp

Torque: 273Nm

Price: Dh240,000

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Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

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Neymar's bio

Total club appearances 411

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