Virgil van Dijk proud as Liverpool win his inaugural youth tournament

Virgil van Dijk celebrated two wins on Sunday after leading Liverpool to a 1-0 victory over Burnley – with the Reds also winning his youth tournament in the Netherlands.

The inaugural Virgil’s Legacy Trophy tournament took place in Tilburg, the home of Van Dijk’s former club Willem II, over the weekend.

Liverpool were one of 16 teams to enter an U13s side and went on to lift the trophy after topping their group, progressing through the knockouts and beating Feyenoord 2-1 in the final.

Striker Ade Adediran was handed the Diogo Jota Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, having scored eight goals in five appearances.

Joshua-Kyle Mfunyi also won the tournament’s Best Defender prize as part of a successful weekend for the young Reds – coached by former academy striker Michael Yates.

While Van Dijk had hoped to be there in person his duties as Liverpool captain unsurprisingly took priority, but the Dutchman learned of the results soon after full-time at Turf Moor.

“I ran in and found out that the boys did us proud in my own youth tournament in Holland,” he told the club’s official website on Sunday.

“The Liverpool U13 boys won my tournament. I think they had an amazing time. It was almost a sell-out at the stadium from what I’ve heard and everyone had a good time.

“I think the whole day, the players had a fantastic experience, all of the teams, so I was really pleased with that.

“I watched the games on the way to Burnley, watched it on Saturday. Unfortunately I obviously I couldn’t be there because I had some duties today I had to do!

“But I’m very pleased that everything went well. I could say so many things; I’m just buzzing about that because this has been something that is very close to my heart.

“I can keep talking about it and will keep this smile as well! An amazing day overall with everything that happened.”

Before the tournament Willem II honoured their academy graduate by unveiling the Virgil van Dijk Tribune, a newly renamed main stand at their youth stadium.

All of Van Dijk’s former clubs, including Willem II, FC Groningen, Celtic and Southampton, also took part, but Liverpool were the only side to progress beyond the group stage.

The young Reds beat Man City in the semi-finals before their triumph over Arne Slot‘s old side Feyenoord.