Jamie Carragher believes Virgil van Dijk produced his most dominant performance the likes of which he had 'never really seen' against Manchester City as Liverpool ran out 1-0 victors at Anfield.
Pep Guardiola's high-scoring City side arrived at Anfield on Sunday heavy favourites to inflict a fourth defeat of the season on Liverpool.
And with good reason with the Premier League champions 13 points better off than their rivals in the standings and summer signing Erling Haaland having already scored 20 goals in all competitions.
Mohamed Salah clinched a 76th minute winner to inflict a first defeat of the season on their closest rivals in recent years, but it was Liverpool's defensive performance that appeared to impress Carragher the most.
The hosts' defence has come in for justifiably heavy criticism this season. Trent Alexander-Arnold has to often come unstuck when defending, while Van Dijk - a player that finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or in 2019 - has looked a shadow of his former self.
However against Man City, Van Dijk showed all of the qualities that made him one of the top-flight's greatest ever centre-backs, with former Liverpool defender Carragher praising the Dutchman for one of his best-ever performances.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: 'Van Dijk played the game like he had something to prove. I've never really seen Van Dijk like that the way he was today. I've seen him be on standard.'
'He was a leader and we asked for that before the game, we needed him to show a bit more of that. There was an instance just before where he actually blocks the cross and slides on the floor.
'When do you see Van Dijk do that? It just felt like he went into that game thinking the world's watching, I'm up against Haaland, he was trying to use his power.
'He's been amazing for five years but I've never really seen a performance like that with the intensity, like it was a real fighting battle.'
Fellow pundit and ex-City star Micah Richards joined Carragher in praising the 31-year-old's impact against his old side.
'We talked about Van Dijk before the game, I think he's a class act. He's had a big injury. For four, five years he's probably been the best centre-back in the Premier League.
'He's going to have a dip in form. Today they dropped off a little bit deeper and there were people in front of him, he was marshalling it, his positioning was excellent, his all-round game, and he's top notch.'