Virgil van Dijk rarely looks flustered on a football pitch.

He’s a colossal center-back, with all the physical traits of an early ‘90s defender alongside the technical qualities required to play the role today. Composure, aerial dominance, perfectly timed tackles, Van Dijk has it all.

Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher claimed earlier this month that he’s the Premier League’s greatest in that position, adding it looks at times like he needs a standard above the Champions League to properly test himself.

But for the first 10 minutes at the Etihad on Sunday, Van Dijk was unnerved. There weren't any mistakes from the Liverpool skipper as such but he couldn’t quite get to grips with Manchester City’s tactical approach as Phil Foden started in a center-forward role but habitually dropped deep.

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Early on, Van Dijk followed him, fouling the City star to prevent an opposition attack and, at least twice in the early throes, the former Southampton star ended up alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in midfield.

This was mainly down to a tactical tweak from City as Liverpool had not anticipated Pep Guardiola’s approach to the game, and both Foden and Omar Marmoush carried a threat in the opening stages. In the breaks of play, Van Dijk was seen screaming instructions at team-mates, trying to ensure gaps were filled so he didn’t need to push higher up the pitch.

That changed after Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead in the 14th minute, when the attacker fired past Ederson from an intricate, yet fortuitously wrongly executed set-piece routine. While the Liverpool players celebrated, Van Dijk used it as an opportunity to deliver some crucial details to his midfielders. He and Curtis Jones, in particular, were engaged in a brief chat, the subject of which was clearly on how to stop Foden finding space.

Whatever was said, it worked. From that moment on the Reds looked compact and secure, with the majority of City’s attacks coming down the flanks via Jeremy Doku and Savinho. It’s the sort of moment that easily gets overlooked but it may well have proved instrumental in Liverpool grabbing three points as it extended the gap at the top of the table.

Van Dijk spoke in an interview with Jamie Redknapp last week about how his role has changed since becoming Liverpool captain, while he has repeatedly called for calm and focus this campaign amid the giddiness that has stemmed from fans and the media over a possible Premier League title.

No-one will begrudge the Dutchman picking up a second winners’ medal of his career. He hasn’t missed a single minute of Premier League football this season and, for all his on-field skills, it’s his leadership that may prove most valuable. That was shown again at City.