Virgil van Dijk on Caoimhin Kelleher: ‘I’m quite a big fan of him. He is a fantastic goalkeeper.’

Handed a rare Premier League start due to COVID-19 issues in the Liverpool camp, Caoimhin Kelleher was handed a big compliment by his skipper Virgil van Dijk after Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Chelsea.

With Alisson Becker out due to coronavirus, Jurgen Klopp (who also missed the match due to COVID-19 issues) brought Kelleher into the team for the clash with Chelsea in Stamford Bridge.

Kelleher made some eye catching saves and the Reds were 2-0 up only for a super strike from Mateo Kovacic and then a Christian Pulisic goal to leave the game level at the break.

The Cork goalkeeper kept a clean sheet in the second half as Liverpool took a point away with them from London.   

“I’m quite a big fan of him,” said Van Dijk speaking to Sky Sports after the match. “He is a fantastic goalkeeper. He is learning from the best, in my opinion, with Alisson. 

It is just over a year ago that the Republic of Ireland international ‘keeper made his league debut for the Reds. He made his Champions League and Premier League debuts as Alisson Becker was out injured with Kelleher keeping clean sheets in wins over Ajax Wolves respectively.

The 23-year-old ‘keeper was called into league action earlier this season playing against Watford and in the league cup wins over Norwich and Leicester – where he was the hero in the recent penalty shootout against the Foxes saving two spot kicks.

“His presence is good, he is confident on the ball and he is making good saves as well,” said Van Dijk. “That’s good and we need him right now because of obviously the COVID cases. Unfortunately, we conceded two but the first one he can’t really do anything about it. We need him for the next games as well.”

The result left Liverpool in third place a point behind Chelsea and now 11 points behind table toppers Manchester City.

“It’s a big gap, so they have the title maybe to lose at the moment. But anything can happen still. We have been there where we had a gap, we were in front and we gave it away. So, anything is possible. 

“We will focus on ourselves, Chelsea will focus on themselves. We just have to get results, play good football and win games. It sounds pretty easy but it’s tough, as you see today as well.”

Ireland international Aaron Connolly completes Middlesbrough loan move https://t.co/M1BWFOgJW2pic.twitter.com/KgJrXKWXnp

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) January 2, 2022