Despite his costly mistake in the build-up to Manchester City's goal, Virgil van Dijk had yet another solid game at the heart of Liverpool's defence on Wednesday night.

Calm, composed and commanding, the Dutchman was pivotal at the Etihad as Jurgen Klopp's side progressed into the Champions League semi-finals by virtue of a 5-1 win on aggregate.

Van Dijk has brought an assuredness to Liverpool's back four and even managed to coax the best out of Dejan Lovren, who was equally fantastic againsty City.

One man who has been very impressed is Steven Gerrard, who said on BT Sport that Van Dijk is the final piece of the puzzle for his former club.

"I think this Liverpool team with the arrival of Van Dijk have found a big piece of the jigsaw," said the Liverpool legend.

"They've always looked dangerous under Jurgen since the moment he came through the door, they've always looked threatening. They've always taken the game to opposition teams.

"But everyone's been criticising them at the back. The arrival of Van Dijk has had such a big lift on everyone else around him. The piece of that jigsaw is massive.

"You could see him controlling the back four today, organising everyone. He's lifted Lovren, he's helping the two full-backs out immensely and he's even helping the goalkeeper."

Can't argue with that. Van Dijk wasn't strong enough for City's opener, which isn't something you say too often about the 26-year-old, but he made up for it as the game progressed.

It was Raheem Sterling who got the better of Van Dijk moments before Gabriel Jesus' strike, although he did get revenge on the Englishman later on in the opening 45 minutes.

In the video below, when the ball is played back to Loris Karius, Van Dijk sticks his leg out behind him to sneakily trip Sterling and stop him from closing down. Check it out.

VAN DIJK'S REVENGE

So cheeky from the £75 million signing, who is very lucky the referee didn't see the trip otherwise he probably would have been booked. Hardly anyone noticed it in fact.

Van Dijk will only hope he doesn't make any mistakes that need making up for when the semi-finals come around.