Richard Buxton: Reds not at home in Europe

Virgil van Dijk can seemingly do no wrong as the current heir of Liverpool's defensive lineage.

For many, he is Anfield's modern successor to Ron Yeats, Alan Hansen and Sami Hyypia. A commanding and statuesque presence tends to lend itself to such favourable comparisons.

                GROUP C

LIVERPOOL

RED STAR BELGRADE

But the defender must prove he is worth every penny of his £75 million (S$134.4m) valuation in tomorrow morning's (Singapore time) Champions League visit of Red Star Belgrade.

Van Dijk's first nine months on Merseyside have been far more imperious than incompetent. It is thanks to him that Juergen Klopp's side have recorded a previously uncharted feat of conceding three times or fewer in each of their opening nine league matches.

Since his arrival at the turn of this year, they have shipped just 13 goals in 23 English Premier League appearances.

Yet those same statistics do not translate as well from their previous six Champions League encounters - even factoring in a high-calibre opposition that have included Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and last season's showpiece defeat by Real Madrid.

Continental exploits continue to be worn as a badge of honour at Anfield, but this detail is not one which will be displayed prominently in the storied tapestry.

Never in the club's rich European history has their defensive record been so paltry over such a small stretch of games. Never have the Reds had it so good and yet so bad at the same time.

POLAR EXTREMES

They remain a club defined by polar extremes, a place where hopes of sunlit uplands are immediately followed by threats of impending doom.

But rarely, if ever, have the two been allowed to overlap.

Liverpool's high-profile pursuit of van Dijk was an initially costly gamble designed to provide a lasting solution to a problem area where his future teammates had continually fallen short.

Dejan Lovren had been rendered serial defensive liability, and even something of a punchline figure, long before he prematurely claimed that Croatia's run to the World Cup final this summer had validated him as one of the best defenders on the planet.

A combination of susceptibility and inexperience rendered Joel Matip and Joe Gomez as supplementary options at the heart of Liverpool's backline rather than its focal point.

That, however, has allowed van Dijk's moments of mortality to go largely unscrutinised.

When his erroneous back-pass to Alisson gifted Rachid Ghezzal an unlikely lifeline during last month's win over Leicester City, critics immediately rounded on the Brazilian goalkeeper.

Had Lovren or Gomez made such costly blunders, the attacks would have been merciless.

At the time, only Roberto Firmino sought to highlight the key factor which led to his teammate's own bout of absentmindedness. But the Dutchman's folly became more noticeable to others who regularly witness him at close quarters in the weeks that followed.

LAIDBACK

Holland coach Ronald Koeman warned that the 27-year-old's on-field approach was "a little too laidback" and had to change his ways.

Criticism does not come much greater than from one of the game's finest all-time defenders, nor the man that handpicked him to captain the national side.

Van Dijk is already under no illusions that the minutiae of his performances will be scrutinised in line with his price tag. It comes with the territory as the world's costliest defender.

So, too, does talk of him following in the footsteps of Yeats, Hansen and Hyypia; not only as a commanding centre-back but also as a future, trophy-winning Liverpool captain.

Backing it up with consistency will help his cause immeasurably.