Mohamed Salah insisted Liverpool's win against Manchester City does not mean they are back in the title race, despite a hard-fought victory over the Premier League champions at Anfield on Sunday.
The Egyptian scored the only goal of a typically fast-paced encounter between the two rivals, racing on to a long pass from Alisson before slotting past Ederson with 14 minutes remaining.
The loss was City's first in the league this season, but was also just Liverpool's third win from nine league outings, and Jurgen Klopp's men remain down in eighth place, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal and 10 behind City and Tottenham with a game in hand.
Salah said he and his team-mates are still "far away" from the top, but will try to get themselves back into it over time.
"No, we are still far away from [the title race]," he told Sky Sports. "We just need to focus on each game and take it one at a time, we don't have to think about the title at the moment.
"Of course, personally I always love to play for a title and in my head we are going to fight for it… we don't have to feel pressure because there is still a gap to first and second.
"You can see everybody here [is] unbelievable, and we should be in a better position than we are. The players are excited to win again and I think that will give us a good push for the next games."
Virgil van Dijk and the rest of the Liverpool backline did a solid job of keeping Erling Haaland quiet, with the Norwegian still getting off six shots but being denied by Reds stopper Alisson.
"It takes a lot to get three points [against City]," the Dutchman told Sky Sports. "It was always going to be very intense."
The Anfield crowd was at its best as the home fans roared Liverpool on to victory, and Van Dijk acknowledged their contribution.
"It's always like that [the atmosphere] and when certain moments happened in the game it added fuel to the fire," he said.
"It started with the hard work we put on the pitch, and that’s the minimum that’s expected here at this beautiful football club.
"That's what we gave, and the energy we had back today [from the fans] was definitely needed in order to push us forward and keep hold of the 1-0 advantage.
"They played a big part and that's what we need for the rest of the season, especially after a difficult start."
The outoome of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City is likely to hinge on how Virgil van Dijk copes with "absolute phenomenon" Erling Haaland, according to Gary Neville.
City trail Premier League leaders Arsenal by a point ahead of their trip to Anfield on Sunday, while Liverpool are 13 points further back, seemingly out of title contention already.
Pep Guardiola's men are the only unbeaten side in the Premier League, thanks in no small part to the extraordinary exploits of Haaland.
Having only played nine games in the top flight, Haaland has already broken the records for most goals (15) and goal involvements (18) in a player's first 10 appearances in the competition.
A trip to Merseyside will see Norway striker face arguably his toughest opponent yet in Van Dijk, and Neville is excited by the prospect of their duel.
"I still think, no matter what form Liverpool are in and where they are, Sunday will still feel like the toughest game they [City] are going to face," Neville told Sky Sports.
"Look, at the end of the day you know what I feel about those two clubs, but on Sunday you can't help but think of Haaland against Van Dijk.
"You just can't stop thinking about how that's going to play out. The best centre-back in the world for the last three or four years, who has struggled a little bit more this season.
"But he's against this absolute phenomenon. That Liverpool back line, which pushes up with space in behind… I'm fascinated by that, I can't wait for it, to be honest."
Liverpool are winless in their last five Premier League meetings with the champions (D3 L2) – they have never previously gone six without a victory against City in the league.
Virgil van Dijk admits Liverpool's "confidence is creeping away" after making their worst start to a Premier League campaign in a decade.
Liverpool's 3-2 loss to Arsenal in Sunday's contest at Emirates Stadium leaves them with 10 points from eight games – their lowest return since the 2012-12 season (nine).
The Reds have conceded 16 goals across their past 12 league matches and kept just two clean sheets, while conceding the opening goal of the game on 10 occasions.
And centre-back Van Dijk, who has come in for criticism for his performances this campaign, accepts a lack of belief is playing a part in Liverpool's disappointing run of form.
"Confidence is definitely a thing that plays a part. We're all human beings," he told Sky Sports.
"Sometimes you need a bit of confidence in certain moments. If it's not as high, it won't help in certain situations.
"Every human being needs confidence to perform at the highest level. If you're not winning, confidence is creeping away.
"We know we can turn it around but we have to work hard. That's the only thing to do and the only way forward as well."
Liverpool twice drew level in their enthralling contest with Arsenal, only for Bukayo Saka to claim victory for the home side with a 76th-minute penalty.
The spot-kick was awarded after Thiago Alcantara was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel Jesus, but Van Dijk does not believe it should have been given.
"Obviously it was a very tough game for both sides. We had good moments, we had bad moments," he said.
"Then it got decided by a penalty that from my point of view wasn't a penalty. But it goes so quick, I haven't looked in slow motion.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get the points to bring with us back to Liverpool."
Liverpool are 10th in the table, 14 points adrift of pacesetters Arsenal with a game in hand, after failing to win any of their opening four league games for the first time in 12 years.
In contrast to their opponents' slow start, Arsenal have won at least eight of their first nine league games for only the fourth time in their history.
"We know they're in the best moment of their lives," Van Dijk added. "They've had a great season and we knew it was always going to be tough.
"But I think we had good moments and created good chances at times. It's hard to lose it by a penalty in my opinion, but it's the case, so we have to deal with that."
Liverpool switch focus back to the Champions League on Wednesday with a trip to Rangers, before hosting Manchester City on their return to league action next weekend.
Arsenal are hugely impressed with William Saliba, but Mikel Arteta has stayed away from comparing the youngster to Virgil van Dijk.
Saliba has been fantastic for Arsenal this season, after finally getting his chance following loan spells at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille.
The 21-year-old signed for Arsenal from Saint-Etienne back in 2019, but spent the next season back on loan at the French club.
However, Arteta did not call on the centre-back in the 2020-21 season, and Saliba subsequently left for Nice before spending last season on loan at Marseille.
This time around Arsenal kept hold of Saliba despite Marseille's interest and have been rewarded by some superb displays, with the France international starting all eight Premier League matches.
His form has seen him compared with Liverpool defender Van Dijk, though ahead of the meeting between the Gunners and the Reds, Arteta urged Saliba to "make his own career."
The Arsenal manager told reporters: "I think the way he has established himself, the composure and leadership that he's shown on the pitch – it's done in a very natural way without any flashlights, just being himself.
"Being very quiet but at the same time, very confident."
On the Van Dijk comparisons, Arteta said: "Wow, that's a big call. We're very happy with where he is at the moment.
"He's Saliba: he's no one else, and he needs to make his own career."
How do Saliba and Van Dijk stack up?
Arteta may have strayed away from comparing the players, but the data throws up some interesting head-to-head records.
While Van Dijk has struggled to hit his best form in an underperforming Liverpool team, Saliba has helped Arsenal keep three clean sheets this season, which ranks him joint-top in terms of defenders in the Premier League.
He has made 12 headed clearances, one more than Van Dijk, though both are way behind the league-leading defender in that regard (Joachim Andersen - 36). Saliba has also made 25 clearances to Van Dijk's 23.
Despite Van Dijk's struggles, he nevertheless boasts a better tackle success rate (60 per cent to 46.2) and duel success rate (72.1 to 56.3) than Saliba, while the Netherlands international has also won 25 of hs 32 aerial duels, compared to Saliba succeeding in eight of his 17.
Saliba's ability on the ball has also drawn comparisons to Van Dijk. He is able to find his team-mates with long passes, though Arteta's preferred style of play means Saliba has only attempted 32 long passes in the league.
An impressive 22 (69 per cent) of these have been successful, which betters the success rate managed by Van Dijk, who has landed 38 of his 69 long passes (55.1 per cent).
Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk has leapt to the defence of team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold amid recent criticism of the right-back's performances.
Alexander-Arnold has been the subject of plenty of scrutiny following his poor defensive performances in the Premier League and Champions League.
The defender's mistakes in Liverpool's 3-3 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, in particular, drew heavy criticism from fans and pundits.
The 23-year-old also failed to feature in either of England's two Nations League games last week, with Gareth Southgate making it clear Alexander-Arnold is not his first-choice right-back.
But van Dijk, speaking after Liverpool's 2-0 win against Rangers on Tuesday in which Alexander-Arnold opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick, said: "We know the quality he has and he showed it again today.
"He has been showing it over the last couple of years; he has developed as one of the best right-backs in the country."
Netherlands international Van Dijk also questioned the culture surrounding player welfare and media scrutiny in English football.
He said: "I've been in the UK now for eight, nine years and everyone here is very good to praise a player very high up to the sky and let them fall as hard as they can.
"That's what we, as players, have to deal with. Everyone is talking about how we should accept it.
"For him to just carry on working – not only him but other players as well – deal with it and show reaction today is what we need, all of us. I think it's important that we back him."
Liverpool's victory against Rangers leaves them second in Group A behind Napoli, who beat Jurgen Klopp's men 4-1 in the opening group game.
Darwin Nunez will "score a lot of goals and show his talent" despite a tough start to his Liverpool career, says ex-Reds midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.
Striker signing Nunez, who scored on his Premier League debut against Fulham, has failed to add to his tally following a three-match ban for a red card against Crystal Palace in August.
But Sissoko – a Liverpool player for three years under Rafael Benitez – is confident the Uruguay forward simply needs time to adapt.
"It's not easy to play in the Premier League. It's a big difference between the Portuguese league and the Premier League," Sissoko told Stats Perform.
"If Liverpool spent a lot of money for this player, it's because he has quality. I'm sure he's going to score a lot of goals and show his talent, because he has talent."
Liverpool are down in eighth place in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season in which they dropped points against Fulham, Palace, Manchester United and Everton.
And Nunez is not the only player to have struggled, with fellow forward Mohamed Salah criticised in scoring only twice in six league matches.
But Sissoko feels Salah's team-mates are as much to blame, adding: "It depends on the team also. When you play well, when you score, you make lots of good things, it depends on the team, not one player.
"The team has to play well, and after Mo Salah is going to show his talent."
With a tough run of fixtures ahead and with only two clean sheets so far, Liverpool will also need to improve defensively if they are to climb the table.
When asked about Liverpool's back line and recent scrutiny of Virgil van Dijk, Sissoko said: "He's still one of the best defenders in Europe.
"[Just] because he's not playing well in one game or three games, you can't say he's a poor player. He has quality.
"He's captain of the Netherlands national team, he plays for Liverpool, and he's shown everyone he's a good player. He's a leader also.
"Sometimes in football, [things] happen. Sometimes you play well, sometimes you play not good, but I'm sure after the international break all the team is going to win and [take] Liverpool higher."
The Netherlands booked their place in the Nations League Finals as Virgil van Dijk's second-half header sealed a 1-0 win over Belgium on Sunday.
Victory over Poland on Thursday meant the Oranje only needed to avoid a heavy defeat to their neighbours at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam to seal top spot in Group A4.
Belgium never looked like they had the firepower to pull off such a result, with Liverpool defender Van Dijk securing three points for the hosts by scoring in the 73rd minute.
The result meant the Netherlands topped their group with 16 points, with Roberto Martinez's Red Devils six points behind in second.
Belgium looked bright in the early stages, with Eden Hazard blazing over from a promising position and Michy Batshuayi firing at Remko Pasveer after being played in by Kevin De Bruyne.
At the other end, Denzel Dumfries cracked wide from 12 yards after fine work down the left from Vincent Janssen, which was the closest the hosts came in a first half that saw them fail to have an attempt on target.
Dumfries again went close at the start of the second period, while Belgium's Amadou Onana was denied by a smart stop from Pasveer shortly after the hour mark.
Steven Bergwijn powered a shot straight at Thibaut Courtois as the Netherlands cranked up the pressure, before Van Dijk handed the hosts victory with a close-range header from Cody Gakpo's corner.
Courtois did well to deny Davy Klaassen and Bergwijn in the closing stages, while Belgium substitute Dodi Lukebakio struck the post with a sensational overhead kick with almost the last kick of the game.
Virgil van Dijk acknowledges he has not performed to the best of his ability during a frustrating start to the season for Liverpool.
Liverpool have taken just nine points from their first six matches of the Premier League season, their worst return since Jurgen Klopp took charge in 2015.
Postponements following the death of Queen Elizabeth II mean Liverpool have not played a domestic game since September 3, though they clinched a much-needed Champions League victory over Ajax last time out.
While Van Dijk has been an ever-present for the Reds this season, he has not always lived up to his reputation as steady defensive influence, most notably in a 4-1 thrashing at Napoli.
Speaking after the Netherlands posted a 2-0 Nations League win over Poland on Thursday, Van Dijk admitted he has been disappointed with his own displays.
"I know I could have done better in the beginning of the season. I'm not naive about that. I know very well when I make mistakes," Van Dijk said.
"I also know that I am one of the important players at the club and of course also here at the national team. I feel that responsibility.
"Mentally it's a challenge. You feel a lot of pressure on your head. A lot of people forget that too, it's not easy to do that.
"We all try to show our best and if, in my case, you are one of the mainstays at the club, then you get the criticism you deserve. You have to deal with that and that is not always easy. But I did that just fine."
The Netherlands conclude their Nations League campaign against Belgium on Sunday, with Louis van Gaal's team needing to avoid defeat if they are to secure top spot in Group A4.
Virgil van Dijk took a swipe at Liverpool's critics after a vital Champions League win over Ajax lifted spirits at Anfield.
Captaining Jurgen Klopp's team on Tuesday, Van Dijk saw his fellow centre-back Joel Matip head home from a corner in the 89th minute to earn three priceless points for last season's runners-up.
Mohamed Salah had earlier broken his seven-game barren streak in the competition by firing Liverpool ahead, before a fine goal from Mohammed Kudus brought Ajax level.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric as Matip's goal was awarded, after Dusan Tadic's attempted clearance came from behind the line.
It meant Liverpool cast aside the misery of last week's 4-1 defeat to Napoli, and Dutchman Van Dijk said it should serve to remind players-turned-pundits of the team's great strengths.
Van Dijk told BT Sport: "Coming back from the horror show in Naples, it was very important for us to show a positive reaction, and it's not easy to turn it around, but this is a step to the right direction.
"It was very important to win today and get the good feeling going into the international break."
Asked about the key to turning around the team's fortunes, Van Dijk said: "Not listening to the outside world, that's the most important thing.
"It's funny sometimes, because there's a lot of ex-football players and they know exactly what we go through. They say a lot of things to try to get us down.
"We know that last week was unacceptable, it was very bad, and we tried to make it right. This is a step to the right direction. Don't get carried away of course, because we play so many games."
Van Dijk had a team-high four goal attempts and said: "I should have scored. We felt like we were dangerous at every set-piece, especially the corners, so it was our responsibility to at least convert one, and luckily the one and only Joel Matip did it."
Matip now has 10 goals across all competitions for Liverpool, and the team have nine wins and a draw from the 10 games in which he has found the net.
"I had a few opportunities before and I was happy that I could score," said former Schalke defender Matip. "I wasn't sure [it would be awarded], to be honest, but when I saw the referee then my emotions came out.
"It was a long and tough game, we tried over 90 minutes to create chances and were pushing forward, the whole team."
Manager Jurgen Klopp enjoyed the moment, with Liverpool playing between blank weekends, their latest Premier League games having been called off amid national mourning over the death of Queen Elizabeth II and a subsequent squeeze on police resources.
"I think everyone could see we understood we had to put a completely different shift into the game," Klopp said.
"We played a lot of good stuff against a really hard-fighting and good opponent. We should have scored more goals from set-pieces especially, I don't know how these balls didn't go in."
He was more than happy for it to be Matip, rather than a striker, coming up with the late heroics.
"I'm not picky in that sense," Klopp said. "It was a nice celebration and showed everything the boys thought today. Nothing is over, negative or positive, it is a first step and a very important step for us."
"Stick together, don't point fingers. Everyone knows that everyone can do better. What I said, we're not robots, we're trying to perform and you can have bad moments.
"It's how you deal with them and now we'll definitely have a good look at what happened, speak with each other and focus on the game ahead of us.
"It's good for us that there's a game quite quickly after this and hopefully [we] get a great performance and result."
Liverpool host Wolves in their next Premier League outing on Saturday, before resuming their continental campaign against Ajax on Tuesday.
Van Dijk knows the importance of getting their Champions League group-stage campaign back on track as quickly as possible, adding: "It can change, definitely.
"There's so many games still to play but you wanted to have a good start. The situation is how it is.
"Next game in the Champions League will be Ajax at home and we need the fans, we need a good performance from us.
"It starts obviously on Saturday with a good opportunity against a good side as well, so we'll give everything. What I said, the key is to be together. We need everyone.
"If you start blaming others and don't look at yourself or create negativity around the club, then you're not getting out of this. I'm fully confident that we'll turn this around together."
Wednesday's demoralising reverse means Liverpool have lost on all three of their trips to Napoli under Jurgen Klopp, the most they've travelled to a particular side without avoiding defeat during his tenure.
Piotr Zielinski struck twice and assisted another as Liverpool's poor start to the season continued with a humbling 4-1 defeat at Napoli in their Champions League opener.
Jurgen Klopp's side have underwhelmed in their first six Premier League games, winning just twice, and were behind after only five minutes in Naples following Zielinski's penalty.
Alisson denied Victor Osimhen's spot-kick just 13 minutes later, but Napoli were 3-0 up at half-time after strikes from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone, the latter on his Champions League debut.
Zielinski finished past Alisson again after the interval before Luiz Diaz responded with a bending effort – a mere consolation goal for Liverpool in the Group A encounter.
Osimhen rounded Alisson before striking the post with just a minute played, but Napoli were soon ahead after James Milner handled Zielinski's effort inside the area.
Zielinski found the bottom-left corner from the resulting penalty and another spot-kick arrived soon after when VAR sent referee Carlos del Cerro Grande to check a Virgil van Dijk foul on Osimhen, who was then denied by Alisson diving to his right.
Van Dijk cleared off the line with the goal gaping for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia but Napoli doubled their lead when Zielinski teed up Anguissa, who fired under the onrushing Alisson.
Alex Meret tipped away a goal-bound Van Dijk header before Simeone, on for the injured Osimhen, turned Kvaratskhelia's driven cross into an empty net on the stroke of half-time.
Zielinski doubled his account just two minutes after the break, dinking over Alisson on the rebound following Simeone's pass, before Diaz curled into the bottom-right corner after Andy Robertson's offload.
Meret pushed a powerful Diaz header over from Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross but Liverpool were unable to recover after a toothless first-half showing.
What does it mean? Liverpool's group-stage run ends as Napoli struggles continue
Liverpool cruised to six wins from as many group-stage games in last year's competition but their attempts to become the first English side to win seven straight such matches ended abruptly.
The Reds have conceded the first goal in five games in all competitions this season, the joint-most of any Premier League side, and were never going to recover after finding themselves three down at half-time in the Champions League for just a fourth time.
Liverpool's third Champions League defeat at Napoli in the last five seasons leaves Group A wide open after the first matchday, in which Ajax smashed Rangers 4-0 in Wednesday's other game.
Kvaratskhelia leaves Trent spinning
Klopp heaped praise on Luciano Spalletti's "interesting project" before the clash and pinpointed Zielinski as the main threat – and the midfielder responded with two goals and an assist.
But Kvaratskhelia should also take the plaudits after regularly tormenting Alexander-Arnold, creating a team-high three chances – one of those the assist for Simeone's goal – before his 57th-minute removal.
Van Dijk dives in
Van Dijk epitomises Klopp's revolution at Liverpool, with his calmness and authority in defence characterising the dominant Reds, but his performances have left much to be desired in recent weeks.
The centre-back fouled Osimhen for the second spot-kick, the second penalty he has conceded in his last seven appearances for the Reds. He had previously not given one away in 150 games in all competitions.
What's next?
Liverpool will aim to recover when they return to Premier League action at home to Wolves on Saturday, while Napoli host Spezia in Serie A on the same day.
Frank Lampard questioned why Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk avoided a red card in Saturday's Merseyside derby after the Dutch defender's late tackle on Amadou Onana.
The centre-back went into referee Anthony Taylor's book for the 76th-minute challenge, when Van Dijk got his timing all wrong and caught Onana just above the ankle.
A gripping match finished goalless, but a red card at that stage of the game could have lifted hosts Everton for the closing minutes.
Manager Lampard could not understand why Taylor was not called to look at the incident again by the video assistant referee.
He said: "If you look at the moment he connects with Amadou's shin and Amadou's foot is on the ground… I'm surprised it hasn't gone to VAR and the referee hasn't been asked to make what I think was the correct decision.
"For me, that was a red card and that changes the face of the last part of the game. The ref and the VAR get that one wrong, in my opinion."
Everton were indebted to the brilliance of their goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, who pulled off eight saves to keep out Liverpool.
That was the most saves the England international has made when keeping a clean sheet in a Premier League game, with crunch interventions to deny Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho standing out.
Lampard hailed his shot-stopper, saying: "Jordan gets fingertips on a few bits that a lot of keepers don't get: pushes the one from Nunez on the bar, the one from Mo Salah at the end.
"Alisson was the same, they're two top goalkeepers. We've relied on Jordan a lot since I've been here. He's an amazing goalkeeper. I'm so fortunate to have a player of his level to pull off saves like that."
Facing Liverpool at Old Trafford is the "perfect game" for Manchester United to kick-start their season, Virgil van Dijk has warned.
United followed up a 2-1 home loss against Brighton and Hove Albion in their opening Premier League game of the campaign with a heavy 4-0 defeat at Brentford last weekend.
The Red Devils find themselves bottom for the first time since August 1992, which is the only previous occasion they lost their opening two games in the competition.
Erik ten Hag is the first United manager to lose his opening two games in charge since John Chapman in 1921 and the Dutchman's task does not get any easier.
United face fierce rivals Liverpool on Monday, when Van Dijk expects the home side to be extra motivated to get off the mark in front of their own fans.
"It's massive, but it's not about making a statement. We want to win and do everything that's possible to win there," Van Dijk said.
"This year they've had a difficult start and we've not had the best start that we wanted either, so it will be interesting.
"Obviously they're not in the best situation confidence-wise probably, but it's the perfect game to turn it around for them."
Liverpool finished one point behind champions Manchester City last season, but they have started the 2022-23 campaign with draws against Fulham and Crystal Palace.
That makes Monday's encounter the first time that United and Liverpool have been winless in the Premier League heading into this fixture.
Jurgen Klopp's side have won their past two league games at Old Trafford, including a 5-0 thumping last season, and are looking to make it three in a row for the first time.
"Over the years it’s proven tough for us to win there, though last year was a great result, we can't deny it," Van Dijk said.
"This week we showed a lot of good spirit and fight in training, and we've got to bring that to the game on Monday."
Mohamed Salah was affected by his contract saga in the latter stages of last season, according to Liverpool team-mate Virgil van Dijk.
Egypt international Salah signed a new deal at Anfield last month worth a reported £350,000 a week, making him the highest-earning player in the club's history.
That brought an end to months of speculation regarding the 30-year-old's future, having himself hinted that he may move away as he entered the final year of his previous deal.
Despite Salah finishing last season as the Premier League's joint-top goalscorer alongside Son Heung-min, Van Dijk believes the contract standoff took its toll on the Egypt star.
"At the end of the season, from maybe April until the end, there was a lot of talk about his contract and stuff," Van Dijk told The Telegraph.
"We're all human beings and maybe that affected him a little bit, unfortunately."
The 118 Premier League goals Salah has scored since his first Liverpool campaign in 2017-18 is 13 more than next-best Harry Kane.
Former Chelsea forward Salah scored 27 goals in his first 31 appearances for the Reds in all competitions last season, compared to four goals in his final 20 games.
He was on the scoresheet from the penalty spot in Saturday's Community Shield win over Manchester City, and Van Dijk has backed his colleague to continue scoring regularly.
"He still showed high levels and quality and he played with a free mind and obviously he's happy to be here and I think everyone is happy to be here," the Dutchman said.
"He showed it already for the last three years. He's under the microscope all the time. He created that himself. He's such a good player and shows that consistently all the time."
Virgil van Dijk told Darwin Nunez to get his "head down, work and be important" for Liverpool after the striker's decisive cameo performance against Manchester City.
Nunez came on with just under an hour played in Saturday's Community Shield clash between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners.
He made a telling impact, winning a penalty when his header struck the arm of Ruben Dias to enable Liverpool to restore their lead through Mohamed Salah after Julian Alvarez had cancelled out Trent Alexander-Arnold's opener.
Nunez, signed from Benfica for a fee of £64million (€75m), with a further £21.4m (€25m) in potential add-ons, capped off a 3-1 triumph for Jurgen Klopp's side with a header late in stoppage time.
The 23-year-old had been the target of criticism and social media jibes following some sloppy performances early in pre-season, though Nunez scored four in a 5-0 rout of RB Leipzig last week and slotted in seamlessly to Liverpool's attack at the King Power Stadium.
Van Dijk shrugged off the criticism of his new team-mate, who the defender explained is already an important player in Liverpool's squad following the departure of club great Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich.
"He's important. He's difficult to play against and hopefully he can show it for the rest of the season," Van Dijk told reporters.
"We all help him in some ways and make sure that he's comfortable, he's calm and just work, and don't focus on what the outside world has to say because everyone has to say something these days. So head down, work and be important for the club.
"I don't speak Spanish, so I'm not saying anything to him at the moment, but we have plenty of Spanish speakers in the team and I know for a fact that they help him, and I don't see anything that bothers him at the moment.
"But we will see, everyone has something to say because there are so platforms to do it. So it can hit you but it shouldn't. Just enjoy your game, enjoy the group, enjoy the club, because we are very blessed to be able to play for Liverpool."
It was a sentiment echoed by midfielder Fabinho, who himself took time to settle into the Premier League following a move from Monaco in 2018.
He said: "We saw he's getting better from the first game of the pre-season. He did really well for the team.
"We've had three weeks of training, so now he knows the way we play a little bit. We are learning the way he plays a little bit more.
"We know he is fast, he's strong and he's a proper number nine. He will be in the box, it looks like the ball follows him, he will always get the chance to score.
"So yeah, I think it's really important for him to score in the first official game in a Liverpool shirt. He will be very important for us this season."
Liverpool's victory marked their first Community Shield triumph under Klopp, at the third time of asking.
Including occasions when the trophy was shared, only Manchester United (21) have won the trophy more times than the Reds (16), whose performance delivered a message to rivals City ahead of the new campaign.
Van Dijk, though, knows using the Community Shield display to predict how Liverpool's season could go would be foolish.
"We can't look to the future," the centre-back added. "It's a boring answer but we knew that, for example, two years ago we had so many injuries, those are part of football as well.
"We are focussing game by game. Hopefully it will be a successful season, better than last season. We are excited to crack on, and we will see what the year brings."
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