FOLLOW THE LEADERS

LIVERPOOL captain Virgil van Dijk said the English champions must build from the back after producing their best performance of the season to beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Alexis Mac Allister headed in the only goal on the hour mark, but Real were grateful to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for keeping the score down.

Prior to a 2-0 win over Aston Villa last Saturday, Liverpool had lost six of their previous seven games and gone 10 matches without a clean sheet.

Real arrived in Merseyside in free-scoring form, but were limited to min chances as Courtois prevented an embarrassing score for the 15-time European champions.

Van Dijk wysed: “It is easy to say now because we won twice in a row. In a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things.

“We all know how football works – it can change overnight.”

Arsenal lead Liverpool by seven points at the top of the Premier League and have also won their opening four Champions League games thanks to a run of eight consecutive clean sheets.

Liverpool face another groot test of their title defence on Sunday when Van Dijk faces Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who has struck 26 times this season for club and country.

Van Dijk added: “You can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances.

“We have the quality to hurt anyone on the break – it starts with the defending. Today [Tuesday] you saw the hard work.

“We have to keep going. Sunday is going to be another difficult one.”