The precious prize was handed from one legendary Liverpool captain and centre-back to another.
Accepting the spoils from Alan Hansen, Virgil van Dijk planted a kiss on the Premier League trophy, strolled in front of his jubilant team-mates and thrust it towards the heavens. Fireworks and red ticker tape filled the early-evening air as a roar swept around Anfield.
It had been 35 years and 24 days since former Scotland international Hansen became the previous Liverpool skipper to lift the league champions’ trophy in front of supporters at this stadium. That claim to fame now belongs to the current side’s inspirational Dutch talisman, whose classy idea it was to involve Hansen in today’s presentation ceremony.
This had been the…