Virgil van Dijk was singing the praises of Naby Keita after Porto win

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk hailed Naby Keita as a “fantastic player” after another goalscoring performance from The Reds’ number eight.

Keita had struggled to settle into Liverpool’s midfield since his arrival from the Bundesliga’s RB Leipzig last summer due to some below-par performances coupled with niggling injury concerns.

However, the Guinean international has started the last two games for Jurgen Klopp’s team, scoring hugely important goals in both fixtures.

Last night, Keita got the ball rolling for The Reds with a deflected goal just five minutes in at Anfield. Bobby Firmino added a second before half-time as Liverpool put themselves in a strong position to progress past FC Porto and into the Champions League semi-finals.

On Friday night, Keita had managed what was probably an even more important goal for Liverpool to equalise against Southampton in the first half. Liverpool had gone behind to an early strike from Shane Long. Keita’s goal and overall performance helped bring Klopp’s men back into the game and they won it with two more late goals from Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson.

Speaking after last night’s 2-0 Champions League win over Porto, Van Dijk told Liverpoolfc.com about the ever-improving Keita.

“He’s a fantastic player. We see it day in, day out. I’m just very happy for him that he’s starting.

“To score two goals in the last two games is very pleasing for him, but very important for all of us. I’m very happy for him.”

Van Dijk’s comments highlighted how well Keita seems to be performing on a regular basis at Melwood. His recent form has shown us glimpses of exactly why he was pursued from the Bundesliga and hopefully, we’ll be seeing far more of the same over the coming years.

It’s very possible that Keita is on the bench for the Chelsea game on Sunday. After missing a prolonged period due to injury – last Friday’s game at Southampton was Keita’s first start since the 0-0 home draw with Bayern Munich in mid-February – Keita might not have another full 90 minutes in him again so soon.

However, his recent upsurge in form, along with a revitalised looking Jordan Henderson, gives Klopp some nice decisions to make as the games just get bigger and bigger as the season draws to a close.

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