Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk believes Ryan Gravenberch is in the form of his life but there is still plenty of room for improvement for the Netherlands midfielder.

The midfielder became the youngest player (23 years and 127 days) to score and assist in a Premier League Merseyside derby, which extended their 100 per cent record to five matches.

Last season’s Premier League young player of the year was coming off arguably his best game for the club in Wednesday’s Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid, and since his conversion to a number six by Arne Slot when the head coach arrived last season his fellow Dutchman has become integral to their success.

Only a year ago Liverpool had done a deal for Real Sociedad’s Martín Zubimendi to fill the role only for the player to back out at the 11th hour, eventually joining Arsenal this summer.

Slot turned to a youngster, who under predecessor Jurgen Klopp had made just 21 starts – nine of which were in cup competitions – in his maiden campaign, and has never looked back.

It makes the £34million they paid Bayern Munich for the former Ajax academy graduate look like a bargain.

“Not just this season, he’s been playing like that from the moment last season started. He’s unbelievable. He’s very important to the way we play,” said Van Dijk.

“You see the amount of times I try to look for him. It benefits him, me and the team. He’s in incredible shape. He’s in the form of his life. He has to keep going. He’s still young.

“The expectation level will always be right up there and that’s what he has to try to reach every three or four days. It’s a nice challenge.

“During his first season here he hardly played either. Listen, it’s a mix of everything: getting confidence, progressing and improving as a player, playing games at the highest level and knowing your role in the team.

“I’m very pleased for him because he puts in a lot of hard work to do what he is doing.”

Gravenberch’s ability to defend and attack has stood out particularly this season.

His goal against Everton was his second in five matches, half the number he got in his first season and two more than he managed in the whole of the title-winning campaign.

It has added an extra dimension to Liverpool’s play as teams can no longer assume he will just hold the centre and allow his more creative team-mates to play.

His 10th-minute goal was perfectly executed, allowing Mohamed Salah’s looping pass to drop before hooking it over goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

The pass he played for £69million summer signing Hugo Ekitike to score his fourth goal in seven matches was perfectly weighted and showed how he is not just a midfield destroyer.

But, following a familiar pattern, Liverpool could not extend their two-goal advantage or even look comfortable holding it and Idrissa Gueye’s 58th-minute strike made for a tense finale.

“I don’t think you can expect any easy games in the Premier League,” added Van Dijk.

“It’s about getting over the line. Of course you want to win comfortably but that’s not always easy. Sometimes you have to fight and that’s what we did in the second half.”

It took a decade, but the Indiana Fever finally celebrated a WNBA playoff series victory. The injury-depleted team upset the Atlanta Dream in the first round, winning Game 3 on Thursday in dramatic fashion.

After avoiding elimination by winning Game 2, Indiana’s fourth-quarter heroics resulted in a stunning 87-85 upset. Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen took notice of the Fever’s remarkable playoff run and offered his praise.

“Shoutout to the Fever and Coach White for getting it done last night and moving on. Obviously, they’ve dealt with some adversity, with some injuries, and it’s the next person up for them. So it’s been fun and [I] wish them all the best of luck in the next round for sure,” Steichen said during his media availability on Friday.

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“I thought it was awesome to find a way to win there, it shows just the grittiness, the toughness, the resilience that they’re playing with right now. You can see they’re all playing together. So, it’s exciting for them, it’s exciting for the city.” 

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Fever star Sophie Cunningham reacted to Steichen’s comments. “wait this is so cool! love you are reppin’ the Fever Girlies coach,” she wrote on X. 

Meanwhile, Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell praised her head coach Stephanie White after Indiana advanced to the semifinals. 

“I’ve had so many coaches in eight years, I’ve been on the worst record teams in the Indiana Fever (history), so I know where my career started at,” Mitchell said after the sixth-seeded Fever rallied in the final minute to beat the third-seeded Dream 87-85 in a decisive Game 3. “I know what I’ve had to go through to kind of be in this position, and I’ve never had a coach that poured into me respectfully, like Steph has. I’ve never felt that as a pro.”

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White on the sideline during Game 2 of a WNBA first round playoff matchup between the Fever and the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Dream finished the regular season with 30 wins, the most in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta entered the playoffs as one of the favorites to make it to the WNBA Finals.

Despite being short-handed throughout much of the year due to injuries, the Fever won the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup and finished with 24 wins.

Five players who started the 2025 season on the Fever’s roster were lost to season-ending injuries. To make matters worse, those setbacks occurred within a two-month window.

In early September, Caitlin Clark announced she had been ruled out for the rest of the season. Clark has been sidelined since July 15, when she suffered a groin injury in a game against the Connecticut Sun.

Indiana Fever players react after defeating the Atlanta Dream during Game 3 in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs at Gateway Center Arena, Thursday, in Atlanta.  (Dale Zanine/Imagn Images)

“I spent hours in the gym every day with the singular goal of getting back out there, disappointed isn’t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling,” the point guard wrote on X on Sept. 4.

Fellow Fever guards Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald each went down with their own significant injuries during a matchup with the Phoenix Mercury last month. Colson suffered a torn ACL, while McDonald was diagnosed with a broken foot.

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Cunningham suffered a season-ending MCL injury on Aug. 27. 

The Fever will meet the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. Game 1 tips off on Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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