Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk fires warning to title rivals Man City
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has fired a warning to English Premier League champions Manchester City, asserting that the Reds will be even better this season.
Liverpool lost the EPL title to City by just one point last term, but the Reds' 97-point tally was the third highest in the league's history.
But van Dijk believes that the Reds will be able to bounce back from the disappointment of losing out in the two-horse race.
The Dutchman, 28, told the club's website: "If people say that we could've done better, then they are wrong.
"We lost only one game in the whole season. We had so many points, we broke the record for Liverpool and Premier League points total.
"We did everything that we could, but the only thing was that City were just a little bit better. We have to respect that."
Juergen Klopp's men went on to clinch the Champions League title to end the season on a high, and van Dijk believes the Reds have been handed a fresh impetus to win their first English top-flight title since 1990.
He added: "It's not that we're not going to try this year, it's not that we're going away. We're going to try to do even better than we did last year.
"It's going to be very hard because Man City will be stronger again, the other teams will be stronger again as well. They try to get to that level too.
"To lose it that close was disappointing at the time, but I could put it away straight away because the fact is that they were just a little bit better back then."
The Reds' pre-season continues in Boston this morning (Singapore time), when they face Sevilla.
Last Saturday, Liverpool suffered their first pre-season defeat, losing 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund in stifling conditions in Indiana.
Goals from Harry Wilson and Rhian Brewster were cancelled out by Dortmund's Paco Alcacer, Thomas Delaney and Jacob Bruun Larsen.
Klopp was still without his front trio of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who are resting following their international exertions.
But the bright spark was Brewster, 19, scoring in his third straight match.
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