Virgil van Dijk has heaped praise on Liverpool teammate Joel Matip.

The Cameroon defender produced a neat finish in Liverpool's 6-0 demolition of Leeds United on Wednesday.

"It's a big quality of him – I wish I had that quality at times!" Netherlands international van Dijk told the club's official website after the game.

"He just can go without any fear at all and hope for the best a little bit! But he has that quality. It's a big strength of him and obviously it's useful because it drags other players from their position and today obviously the space was there to make that run and finish it off.

"I said to him already before the game I felt it coming because he had an assist for Diogo [Jota] and I said, 'A goal is next!' so I'm obviously very happy for him."