The Dutchman has become a superstar at Liverpool after making a splash at Celtic in the UK.

In his one and only experience, Virgil Van Dijk acknowledges that the police meetings prior to Rangers vs. Celtic were more stressful than the actual game.

The two face on Sunday in a pivotal league match, and the center back will undoubtedly want his old team to win. Van Dijk is a mainstay for Liverpool these days, but the Hoops were the ones who first tried to get him to come play in the UK when he was a Groningen player in 2013.

After departing for Southampton in 2015, he signed a £75 million transfer to Anfield in 2018. Van Dijk has thought about everything Celtic while chatting with Man City great Micah Richards and England legend Gary Lineker on the Rest is Football podcast.

Lineker asked, “How did the move to Celtic come about?” to start the discussion. “It was time for me to take the next step,” Van Dijk replied. Everything has changed; you are not with your family; the language and culture are different.

It’s not so drastically different from where you lived before—Scotland and Holland are only five or six hours away—but it was a significant adjustment. We had a great time raising our first child in Glasgow. That readied me for the subsequent events.

Richards was eager to experience the Rangers derby. Van Dijk only made one appearance, in the 2015 League Cup semi-final victory that saw the Light Blues return from the lower divisions to the Premiership. The defender for Liverpool acknowledged that the intensity of the factor is not the game itself.

I’ve played it once, he clarified. The entire process of getting ready for the game, including meetings with the police, was more hectic than the actual game. This is a unique game.

“The two clubs split the city, and it’s incredible to have experienced that at least once. Although the battle is fierce, it was even more so outside of the game when I was there. There, we had a great time. The whole city was full of energy.

Naturally, you run into some supporters of the opposing team, but the same is true here. In this sense, Liverpool is the same. Even if the supporters of the opposing club are passionate about their squad, they nonetheless approach you with courtesy. People are unaware of just how powerful Celtic is.