Virgil van Dijk is hoping his World Cup pain with the Netherlands can inspire him to accomplish the “crazy” aim of catching Arsenal in the title race this year.
The Liverpool defender has his sights set on bouncing back quickly, following the anguish of a controversial quarter-final exit to Argentina on penalties.
And, as Liverpool look for a fifth straight league win at Brentford on Monday, Van Dijk hopes to be back on the trophy trail for club and country in 2023.
“After the World Cup, hopefully we can do something nice in the summer with the Nations League finals,” Van Dijk said.
“That will be a nice step and it is something I really want to win, we will definitely go for it but the World Cup has also motivated me here at Liverpool.
“We are quite some points behind Arsenal but the season could be a very crazy one, a very strange one. We have to be realistic and we’re not thinking about the title at the moment.
“We have to focus on the game ahead of us, win games and then we’ll see. I am always motivated, I always want to win and I give everything each and every game.”
The 31-year-old centre-half played his part in a stormy end to the penalty shoot-out with Argentina and admits the occasion made him behave out of character.
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“It was a very intense game from start to finish for both sides. You obviously see me doing things that I normally don’t do but it was the heat of the moment and we are all human beings, these things happen.
“They won, we lost through penalties and that is the hard reality.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expects to have one of Van Dijk’s World Cup teammates, Cody Gakpo, available this week after his shock £37m move from PSV.
But while Klopp would like to conduct some more business in the window, he warns fans not to expect him to “splash the cash”.
“We talk about these things as though money didn’t play a role, it is never like this,” Klopp said.
“We sign an outstanding player like Cody Gakpo and all you read is, ‘who’s next?’ We are not playing Monopoly!
“Of course we cannot just spend and never could. It is a big part of my philosophy, working full of faith and trust with the players we have and not constantly telling them we need another player in their position.
“It is clear that you need real quality in all positions and two teams with the same level that you can rotate. But now people are surprised when we say we cannot start ‘splashing the cash’… is that the expression?
“If there is something we can do – and that means right player and financial situation – we will do it.”
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