I watched Madrid in Cardiff now I’ll be facing them in Kiev

Van Dijk went to Wales to see Real lift title – now he wants hands on it

A YEAR ago Virgil van Dijk was in Cardiff to watch Real Madrid lift their second consecutive Champions League trophy.

Now he is preparing to face Los Blancos in Kiev, something he could not have imagined as recently as Christmas when he was still at Southampton.

As he finally emerged from the dressing room in Rome, his voice hoarse from celebrating with fans on the pitch long into the night, then with his team-mates in the bowels of the Stadio Olimpico, there was a beaming smile as he remembered back to 12 months ago.

He said: “I watched the Champions League final last year in Cardiff with a very good friend of mine, so to be in the final now is special.

“Did I imagine I’d be in the final myself ? I was hoping to be there one day, yes... but to be there just one year later, it’s amazing. So, I can believe it, yeah. It’s crazy but I also think it’s well deserved.”

He dared to believe, even before his controversial and protracted move to Anfield was eventually confirmed, but only after complaints by his former club and an FA enquiry.

Those agonising months in the first half of the campaign, as he waited for Southampton to relent, were made even worse by injury and absence, but it gave the ex-Celt time to study the club he chose ahead of Manchester City and Chelsea. And what he saw was a team so dynamic and unrelenting, even before his world record £70million transfer was confirmed, van Dijk began to believe a trip to Kiev at the end of last season.

Asked when he believed the Champions League Final was a realistic prospect, he said: “I only joined in January but I saw a lot of games – and it was clear how much quality the team had.

“To do so well so far has been so fantastic and I’ve been enjoying every bit of it.”

But the story is not finished yet and van Dijk is determined to make it a happy ending.

He said: “We’re not going there to lose. We know we have a lot of quality and so they need to be wary of

what we can do. We need to be wary of what they can do.”

Meanwhile, Mo Salah has thanked Jurgen Klopp for inspiring his meteoric rise to the top of European football.

The 25-year-old Liverpool superstar will face Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo on May 26.

Salah is also rivalling Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or after an incredible campaign scoring 43 goals in his debut season for the Reds.

The Egyptian, who was dumped by Chelsea, thanked his German gaffer for taking a chance and believing in him.

He said: “Jurgen has made a difference. He’s a great, great coach, also a great man. He helped me a lot to improve myself.

“I have confidence to play the way that I want to. We have a good relationship together.”

As well as propelling Liverpool to the brink of Champions League glory, Salah has also surged to favourite in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot with 31 goals.

He leads Tottenham’s Harry Kane, winner of the award for the last two seasons, by four goals.

Salah believes his dream season vindicates his 2015 decision to leave the Blues – where he was a fringe player – for loan spells at Fiorentina and Roma before joining the latter permanently.

He said: “I didn’t have my chance there, so I had to leave.

“In my mind, I didn’t want to be someone sitting on the bench, waiting to be No.4 or five and play two minutes, yet say he’s still at the big club. It doesn’t work.

“I went to Fiorentina, then to Rome, I had two and a half seasons in both clubs. I did very well there. When I had a chance to come back, I said ‘yeah, it’s time to come back to England.’”

We are not going there to lose. We know we have the quality VIRGIL VAN DIJK