Remarkable Virgil van Dijk and his seamless return to the summit uplifts Liverpool 

It was an incident that encapsulated everything that is good and great about Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk.

With Liverpool locked in a titanic tussle for Premier League supremacy against Manchester City at the Etihad, a chance broke for the home side with the score so delicately poised at 2-2 in the second half.

Defeat for the visitors would surely have ended those title hopes and dreams of a remarkable and truly unprecedented quadruple in the process. And this was a big moment for City to try and achieve just that.

It was Raheem Sterling who had the chance, the former Liverpool hero-turned-villain, getting the opportunity to take the fight to his former employers as the heavyweight clash became incredibly tense.

The England international ran at the Reds' defense and was confronted by Van Dijk as he edged into the penalty area. Within an instant, the danger had passed as the Dutch colossus took the ball from his rival with the ease of a dad playing with his son in the back garden.

In one fell swoop, Sterling's chance had gone and the danger had subsided. He had almost accepted his fate as soon as he saw the identity of the Liverpool defender in front of him. It is a level of performance that has become routine for Van Dijk during the course of his four years at Anfield.

“You saw when Sterling went through, Virgil van Dijk stood him up one v one. Out of respect, Sterling turned out and didn’t go for him," Rio Ferdinand later said of the incident.

“If he was playing against someone else, without the reputation, he goes at him and taking a shot. It was unbelievable.”

To have that power alone, to be able to make the opponent think twice about even attempting to take you on is such a rare commodity to possess. For Van Dijk, it means half of his battles are already won without him having to break a sweat.

Van Dijk strikes fear into his counterparts thanks to his Liverpool heroics

The £75 million man is surely the most imposing defender in all of world football. They say all men are created equal, but that is clearly a lie where Van Dijk is concerned. He has, on the surface at least, zero weaknesses on the football pitch.

Just ask Latauro Martinez. The Inter striker may have scored a beautiful goal in their 1-0 win at Anfield in the previous round of the Champions League, but it was an incident in the first leg that summed up his fortunes against Van Dijk before Liverpool went through courtesy of a 2-1 aggregate win.

When faced with a one-v-one situation against Van Dijk in the first half of Liverpool's 2-0 win at the San Siro in February, Martinez simply admitted defeat early and turned back, hoping for backup that never arrived.

Again, Van Dijk stepped in to regain the ball for his side in what was a striking incident for just how much fear the No.4 seemingly puts into opposition strikers.

Surely nearing the otherworldly levels set before a long-term knee injury in October 2020 at Everton, Van Dijk's return to greatness has been a massive reason behind Liverpool's ability to fight their way back into the Premier League title race.

He is a major factor behind the fact that Jurgen Klopp's side have conceded just 11 goals in 22 games in all competitions since the turn of the year and just six in the Premier League. Four of those came in two games away at Chelsea and City.

They say attacks win you games and defenses win you championships. Van Dijk's reascension to the highest echelon following that horrendous, career-threatening knee injury could yet prove that age old adage correct.