Virgil van Dijk visibly emotional after 'tough' moment with Jürgen Klopp at last Liverpool game

Virgil van Dijk admitted his final on-pitch embrace with Jürgen Klopp was "tough" after becoming visibly emotional at Anfield.

Van Dijk helped Liverpool bid farewell to Klopp with a win as they beat Wolves 2-0 in his final Premier League game. The final few minutes saw Klopp serenaded by the Anfield crowd one last time before he embraced Van Dijk and other players and staff at the final whistle.

The Dutch defender, who was handed the captaincy by Klopp last summer, looked particularly emotional after what he described as a "difficult" week. And he followed that moment up with a touching interview on Sky Sports regarding what Klopp means to Liverpool before leaving the club.

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Van Dijk said on Sky Sports: "I’ve got no words. It’s a very emotional day. Liverpool is Liverpool, it’s special, and you can see it now.

"It was always going to be a tough afternoon for everyone, for different reasons of course. We wanted to make sure that we win the game, that we do our job, basically, then obviously we can all be very emotional after the game, and we will be."

Asked about the week of build-up, he said: "Difficult. Very difficult. But we did it and I’m proud of it. You can’t prepare for these types of situations, moments where these things happen.

"But overall, honestly, I think it’s been a good day and he deserves every bit of love that he’s getting at the moment and the rest of the time as well."

Regarding his last embrace with Klopp at the end, Van Dijk's voice cracked as he simply described it as "tough" before adding: "Life goes on."

Before the game, Klopp revealed Van Dijk had led an emotional goodbye from his players. A BBQ was held at Liverpool's AXA Training Centre on Thursday with the players, who paid their own tributes to Klopp and his staff.

Klopp said (via the Liverpool ECHO): "I know myself, I am super-emotional. In a little moment, I was super-emotional this week.

"On Thursday, the players did an incredibly nice thing speaking about me and other members of staff who are leaving, Virgil did incredible. I only had to make a joke here and there. If I had started to say what I think, I would have been gone (emotionally). I knew it."

Van Dijk paid his own tribute to Klopp earlier in the week. He told Sky Sports: "He got me to Liverpool and that is one of the biggest things of my career.

"I am forever grateful for that opportunity. He obviously helped me and made me the player I am today. I am always grateful for him for helping me on that difficult journey."