Programme notesVirgil van Dijk: We know why we can't take our foot off the gas tonight
Virgil van Dijk has warned Liverpool cannot take their foot off the gas as they aim to see off Sparta Prague and reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
The Reds enter tonight’s last-16 second leg against the reigning Czech champions holding a 5-1 lead after an emphatic result in Prague seven days ago.
Van Dijk insists there can be no let-up from Jürgen Klopp’s men if they are to confirm a place in Friday’s draw for the next round.
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Watch on YouTube“We have reached a stage of the season where pretty much every game seems like an opportunity to take a big step and tonight is no different,” the captain writes in the matchday programme.
“The chance is there for us to make progress into the quarter-finals of the Europa League, something that should excite everyone at the club given how much European competition has always meant to Liverpool.
“In the time that I have been here – and obviously for many years before that too – European nights have been something that we look forward to. There is no secret to it. Whether you are a player or a supporter, we all know what is expected of us and that is to live up to the club’s history while looking to create new moments that we can share and enjoy.
“This has to be our aim again tonight and the best way of doing this is by using last week’s first leg only as a guide of what we can expect from a Sparta Prague team which will be looking to create its own history.
“The result from that game doesn’t even come into it until the scores of both legs are added up and we find out who will go through to the next round.
“I know this isn’t what people usually want to hear, but the reality is that it isn’t just the best approach, it is the only approach. Situations like this can start off seeming comfortable, but if you allow your standards to drop, lose focus or take your foot off the gas it won’t be long before it starts to become uncomfortable.
“Football is full of stories like this. We have our own, of course, and we look back on them as incredible occasions that will go down in folklore, but because of having these experiences we know that for every great moment one team has, another has to be on the wrong end of a bad one.
“These are the kind of risks that we have to avoid and, as I’ve said, the best way of doing that is by looking to win tonight’s game and not relying on what happened in last week’s.”
