Virgil van Dijk admits he's now got the taste for winning trophies and is determined to become a prolific collector of silverware with Liverpool.
After being beaten in six consecutive finals, manager Jurgen Klopp shook off his unlucky loser tag in emphatic style as his side defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in this year's Champions League final and with the Reds having now added the UEFA Super Cup, Van Dijk is determined to keep up the habit of securing major honours for the club.
The Dutch international told the Mirror : “It’s incredibly important.
“I do think it’s really important - for the progress of the team, for our development. Winning a trophy is important for your mentality. We did it the hard way.
“(Choosing to sign for Liverpool ) it was definitely a dream - a dream to win trophies.
“And I think before I joined, in my decision I set my goals, and these things were part of my goals - winning trophies was part of my decision.
“You take every opportunity you have to win a trophy. That is always the goal, and winning makes it a little bit easier the next time.
“We would have liked to have done it easier, we wanted to do it like we did better in the second half, but the winning is the important thing at the end. It is good to have that mentality.”
Liverpool still have another five trophies up for grabs for them this season – including the opportunity to win the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time – and Van Dijk remains bullish that they can achieve more success.
He added: “We should be confident, we have a fantastic team, an incredible squad and we should believe in ourselves, we need to believe in ourselves.
“It has been an incredible 18 months. I was disappointed of course that we lost the final to Real Madrid, but I know there is more to come too - we just have to carry on now, and be clear with what we want.”
