Virgil van Dijk earned the praise of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp following his stellar performance in the 2-0 Premier League win at Crystal Palace.

The Dutch defender marshalled his side’s defence superbly in a testing encounter at Selhurst Park, which the Reds won thanks to a James Milner penalty and Sadio Mane’s late second.

Palace put on a positive showing, especially as they ended the game with 10 men following Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s red card.

But the £75million defender ensured Liverpool kept a clean sheet.

“Virgil’s performance was really, really good,” Klopp added. “Quality costs a specific price. Cars are like that. Lots of things are like that. Players too.

“Nobody thinks about that now, which is good. In this market at the moment, he’s at least worth it.”

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is happy to be treated as a “pariah” after insisting that Liverpool should not have been awarded their penalty.

The Reds were awarded a spot-kick on the stroke of half-time when Mohamed Salah went down under a clumsy challenge from Mamadou Sakho.

Milner converted from 12 yards and then Mane made the game safe in stoppage time with a breakaway goal.