NORWICH, United Kingdom: Jurgen Klopp said Virgil van Dijk showed his class in a winning return from injury as Liverpool eased to a 3-0 win at Norwich to open their Premier League season on Saturday.
Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah were on target for Klopp's men as they made a promising start to their quest to take back the Premier League title from Manchester City.
Van Dijk's cruciate knee ligament injury derailed the Reds' title defence last season and the Dutchman looked like his old self as he played the full 90 minutes on his return to action.
"You could see all his quality, all his class," said Klopp. "It was hard for him to play the 90, he'll need an ice bath for sure and he'll have enough time to recover."
Van Dijk's season and hopes of leading the Netherlands as captain at Euro 2020 were ended a reckless challenge from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in a bad-tempered Merseyside derby despite the absence of fans last October.
The 30-year-old signed a new four-year contract on Friday to celebrate his return to fitness, but recalled the hard days that followed his clash with Pickford.
"Mentally it's tough. You go from one day being fully fit to the next day you can't walk, you're full of medication, full of pain, you can't sleep," he added.
"And obviously we were struggling last season with more injuries. More injuries on key positions where we couldn't play our game the way we want to play.
"In the end the guys did a fantastic job to come third and we want to build on that."
Norwich stormed back to the top flight at the first time of asking by romping to the Championship title last season, but were given a stark reminder of the gulf they have to bridge to compete at the Premier League level.
Tim Krul should have done better to prevent the opening goal midway through the first-half when Jota's shot squirmed through his legs.
Klopp left the majority of his stars that had played in international tournaments over the summer out as Firmino and Fabinho started on the bench, while there was no place in the squad for Jordan Henderson or Thiago Alcantara.
The Brazilian duo were introduced on the hour mark and it took Firmino just five minutes to make his mark thanks to Salah's unselfish cross.
Salah then scored in Liverpool's opening league game of the season for the fifth straight season.
A corner fell his way on the edge of the box 16 minutes from time and the Egyptian fired powerfully past Krul into the top corner.
Liverpool needed some late heroics from Alisson Becker to secure Van Dijk a clean sheet on his return as the Brazilian spread himself to block from Ben Gibson in a goalmouth scramble.
"It was of course not perfect, not even close," added Klopp. "But that's not important, what's important is to get the result to build on and work with and we can work with this performance."
Liverpool too good for Norwich on Van Dijk's return
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Liverpool too good for Norwich on Van Dijk's return
- Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah made a promising start to their quest to take back the Premier League title
- Van Dijk's cruciate knee ligament injury derailed the Reds' title defence last season
Canada’s Lee sets pace, Kim in the hunt for LIV Golf wild card spots
- LIV Golf Promotions in Florida offers top 3 finishers a chance to play in 2026 regular season
LECANTO: Canada’s Richard T. Lee has proved the player to watch during the first three days at LIV Golf Promotions and is now well-placed for a wild-card spot in the 2026 LIV Golf season.
Anthony Kim, meanwhile, found another gear on the back nine on Saturday, putting him in a better position to return to full-time status in the league.
The final 18 holes of the 36-hole shootout at Black Diamond Ranch take place on Sunday with a potentially career-changing reward for the top three finishers — guaranteed LIV Golf wild-card status for 2026. In addition, the top 10 and ties earn exemptions into the Asian Tour’s International Series.
For the second time this week, Lee led the field with a bogey-free 6-under 64. The 35-year-old will take a two-shot lead over his closest pursuers going into Sunday, giving him a significant advantage. However, he does not plan to take his foot off the gas.
“Honestly, I don’t think it would be comfortable for any player to have a two-shot lead on the last day,” said Lee, who has two eagles, 13 birdies and just one bogey in his 54 competitive holes this week. “I’ll just put my hat on and just play my golf.”
Kim is among three players who are tied for second after shooting a bogey-free 4-under 66, along with South Africa’s Oliver Bekker and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond. Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard is solo fifth after his 3-under 67, with five other players lurking at 1 under.
Kim, who played as a wild card in the past two seasons following his return to competitive golf after a 12-year retirement, was just 1 under through 12 holes on Saturday. But he made consecutive lengthy birdie putts at the 13th and 14th holes, birdied the par-5 16th, then saved par with a 15-footer at the par-4 18th that circled the cup before dropping.
“I have an opportunity to get one of those spots,” said the 40-year-old, the only American to advance to the weekend. “That’s what I asked for coming into this week and put myself in a good position. Now I’ve just got to go finish.”
Kim would not be in this position had he not made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th on Friday to make the cut on the number.
“I knew that if I didn’t make birdie on 18 [Friday] that my chances of playing on LIV next year were gone, and to me that’s a big deal,” Kim said. “I’d like to play at the highest level against the best players. It meant a lot to me.”
Bekker was part of LIV Golf’s inaugural field at the 2022 London tournament. Four seasons later, he’s excited about the opportunity to return to the league as a full-time member.
“Thinking back on it now, I had the opportunity to play a few more events, and now I’m like, well, maybe I should have played them,” he said. “The water was a bit rough at that stage and didn’t know what was going to happen, so I played it a bit safe. Luckily, I’ve been given another opportunity this week, and hopefully I can take it.”
Janewattananond won four tournaments in 2019 when he became a top 50 world player and, aged 30, still has years left in his competitive career. After shooting a second-round 67 to advance to the weekend, he shot a 66 on Saturday that included four birdies in a six-hole stretch to end his front nine.
“It’s a very big prize at the end of the day,” he said. “Those three spots up for grabs, it would give me freedom to play wherever I want and security for my family.”
The 34-year-old Bjerregaard, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, said earning full-time LIV Golf status would be career-changing.
“Where I am in my career right now, it’s probably that or retirement,” he said. “Yeah, that would mean a lot for sure.”
Although nothing is guaranteed, Lee has played so well this week that there may be just two spots available for the remainder of the field.
“We’re not playing for one spot,” said Janewattananond. “I don’t have to worry about him. I just have to worry about myself.”
“He played great today,” added Bjerregaard, playing in the same group as Lee on Saturday. “But I would be happy with any of the other two spots, so that’s fine. I can finish third. I wouldn’t mind.”
