{"id":1079778,"date":"2019-03-21T18:02:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T18:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1079778"},"modified":"2019-03-25T15:53:25","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T15:53:25","slug":"franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool’s “huge” growth is mostly down to one key player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former World Cup winner and\u00a0Serie A Footballer of the Year, Franco Baresi, has pinned Liverpool’s “huge” growth down to Virgil van Dijk. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dutch centre-back has been imperious since joining the Reds from Southampton in January 2018 and is now widely regarded as the best defender in world football.<\/p>\n

Is Liverpool’s growth down to Van Dijk? Five key things to know…<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Prior to joining Liverpool in January 2018 the club were conceding 1.14 goals per game but averaged just 0.8 after his arrival in the 2017\/18 season.<\/li>\n
  2. This term Liverpool have conceded the fewest number of PL goals (18), three less than Man City (21).<\/li>\n
  3. Van Dijk has been central to that as no defender has kept more clean sheets than the Dutchman (16).<\/li>\n
  4. He has also made more successful passes (2213) than any defender in the league this campaign.<\/li>\n
  5. As such, Baresi believes Liverpool’s rapid development has been down to the defensive exploits of Van Dijk.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7205446-man-utd-need-to-sign-england-s-duel-master<\/p>\n

    That view has now been echoed by Baresi, who has placed the mountainous defender alongside another of his nation’s emerging stars,\u00a0Matthijs de Ligt, in the upper echelons of world-class centre-backs.<\/p>\n

    Baresi, who won six Serie A titles and three European trophies with the\u00a0Rossoneri, is often considered the greatest defender of all time himself, and he believes Liverpool would not be where they currently are were it not for Van Dijk.<\/p>\n

    When asked to compare the modern-day stars to leading figures of his era, Baresi told AFP: “It is difficult to make comparisons.<\/p>\n

    “I like Van Dijk and De Ligt, they are both very strong and very athletic.<\/p>\n

    “Liverpool have grown hugely as a team recently and a lot of that is thanks to Van Dijk.”<\/p>\n

    https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xa_EdMMm-Lc<\/p>\n

    Subscribe to Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Lescott: Van Dijk wouldn’t get in the Man City team<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Despite Jurgen Klopp’s side conceding just 18 goals in 31 Premier League outings, former Man City defender\u00a0Joleon Lescott believes Pep Guardiola has enough firepower in his defensive ranks.<\/p>\n

    The 36-year-old highlighted the importance of\u00a0Aymeric Laporte who he believes is operating on a similar level to that of Van Dijk, suggesting no Liverpool player would get in the City defence.<\/p>\n

    “Both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will each be happy with their own team and their players suit their styles of football,” Lescott told talkSport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    “I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d take a single one of\u00a0Liverpool\u2019s players for Man City\u2019s team, but it\u2019s fair to say both have put together great squads.<\/p>\n

    “From a Man City perspective, I have been very impressed with Aymeric Laporte this season, who has arguably made a similar impact to what Virgil van Dijk has at Liverpool.”<\/p>\n

    \"\"

    READ MORE<\/span>: How every major nation could line up at Euro 2020<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Former World Cup winner and\u00a0Serie A Footballer of the Year, Franco Baresi, has pinned Liverpool’s “huge” growth down to Virgil van Dijk. \u00a0 The Dutch centre-back has been imperious since joining the Reds from Southampton in January 2018 and is now widely regarded as the best defender in world football. Is Liverpool’s growth down to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1079790,"parent":0,"menu_order":7610,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"%%title%%","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \"huge\" growth.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1079778","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"\nFranco Baresi: Liverpool's "huge" growth is mostly down to one key player<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's "huge" growth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Franco Baresi: Liverpool's "huge" growth is mostly down to one key player\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's "huge" growth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\"},\"headline\":\"Franco Baresi: Liverpool’s “huge” growth is mostly down to one key player\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-21T18:02:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/21174137\\\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/\",\"name\":\"Franco Baresi: Liverpool's \\\"huge\\\" growth is mostly down to one key player\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/21174137\\\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-21T18:02:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \\\"huge\\\" growth.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/21174137\\\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/21174137\\\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":681},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Franco Baresi: Liverpool’s “huge” growth is mostly down to one key player\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c\",\"name\":\"Ben Green\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Green\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/BenMGreen95\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/ben-green\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool's \"huge\" growth is mostly down to one key player","description":"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \"huge\" growth.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool's \"huge\" growth is mostly down to one key player","og_description":"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \"huge\" growth.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","article_modified_time":"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/"},"author":{"name":"Ben Green","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c"},"headline":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool’s “huge” growth is mostly down to one key player","datePublished":"2019-03-21T18:02:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/"},"wordCount":488,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/","name":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool's \"huge\" growth is mostly down to one key player","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-21T18:02:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-25T15:53:25+00:00","description":"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \"huge\" growth.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/03\/21174137\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-bayern-munich.jpg","width":1024,"height":681},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/franco-baresi-liverpool-growth-down-one-key-player\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Franco Baresi: Liverpool’s “huge” growth is mostly down to one key player"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7b33a00558813314a222ac17c7bd478c","name":"Ben Green","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98dc1e5d7313d7da49235400e72d7850602b3c1426a58492e3bbb70f9af27975?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ben Green"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BenMGreen95"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/ben-green\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"%%title%%","yoast_description":"Italy and AC Milan legend Franco Baresi has revealed the one Liverpool player who has been essential to the club's \"huge\" growth.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1079778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1079778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1079790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1079778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1079778"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1079778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}