Even Jurgen Klopp was taken aback when informed of the landmark reached on Saturday afternoon.
"Virgil's 100th Premier League appearance?" exclaimed the Reds boss. "I missed about 30 from last season, to be honest, but it's fine, a good number."
That such a significant achievement was overlooked among the blizzard of records against Crystal Palace was perhaps understandable.
Not least given it appears Van Dijk has been part of the Liverpool squad for an awful lot longer, such has been his seismic contribution since arriving for £75million from Southampton in January 2018.
Of course, the cruciate ligament damage suffered last October meant the Dutchman had to wait a further 10 months before becoming a Premier League centurion with the Reds.
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And the composed, assured security he has brought since returning to the starting line-up this season - whether that be with his defending, raking passing or aerial ability - has underlined that while the deputies did an admirable job, there's a reason Van Dijk is regarded the best defender in the world.
Consider these statistics.
In the 100 Premier League games he has played for Liverpool - all of them as a starter - Van Dijk has been on the winning side 76 times, drawn 16 and lost only eight.
The Reds have scored 226 goals in that time and conceded 79, averaging 2.44 points per game.
They have also kept 48 clean sheets while Van Dijk has yet to lose a league game at Anfield as a Liverpool player.
Astonishing. But a closer inspection of those eight defeats indicates the overall impact of the centre-back is even more pronounced.
Van Dijk suffered defeat in his very first league game for the Reds, a 1-0 loss at Swansea City. Later that 2017/18 campaign, another loss came at Chelsea in a game where a much-changed Liverpool side were distracted by the two-legged Champions League semi-final against Roma that sandwiched the fixture.
And two more defeats came towards the end of the 2019/20 season at Manchester City and Arsenal when the championship was already in the bag. The last loss? That comic 7-2 setback at Aston Villa almost a year ago.
The influence of Van Dijk remains strong on his team-mates.
It was perhaps no coincidence Klopp chose the 30-year-old to partner Ibrahima Konate on his Liverpool debut on Saturday and help cajole him through a testing baptism.
Van Dijk could be spotted barking out the occasional order to the £36million signing while offering encouragement. He also helped by largely dealing with the obvious physical threat of Christian Benteke before the former Reds striker departed midway through the second half.
Despite fielding a completely new back line, the clean sheet was Liverpool's fourth in their opening five league games and with Chelsea's Kai Havertz the only player to find a way past goalkeeper Alisson Becker, the Reds' have matched their best-ever goals conceded tally at the start of a season first set in 1977/78.
"I think the thing we need to look at as a team is the momentum factor and the results and the clean sheets," says James Milner, who impressed as an emergency right-back against Palace in the absence of the ill Trent Alexander-Arnold.
"The clean sheets are so important – it's such a great habit to get into. Obviously there's games where you're not playing so well and you get to nick one goal if you're keeping that clean sheet – it's massive and obviously the difference between two points."
Incredibly, Saturday was the first time the three heads of Liverpool's leadership group - skipper Jordan Henderson, vice-captain Milner and Van Dijk - had been on the pitch at the same time since the goalless draw at Everton in the first game back after lockdown in June 2020.
With Klopp intent on rotating his resources in the coming weeks - and the centre-backs in particular given their long-term injuries last term - it is unlikely to become too a regular sight.
But while Van Dijk will have his minutes monitored for the foreseeable, there's little chance of Klopp and Liverpool losing sight of his continued importance. Here's to another 100, Virgil.
