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Jurgen Klopp has revealed the late change of mind which led to Virgil van Dijk making his “fairytale” Liverpool debut – and scoring the winner in the Merseyside derby .

The Dutchman was included from the start against Everton in the FA Cup third round, his first appearance since his £75m switch from Southampton.

And Klopp's faith was rewarded immediately, Van Dijk producing an assured defensive performance and capping his display with the winning goal in front of the Kop six minutes from time.

A dream debut, although afterwards Klopp admitted it may never have happened.

“It was a nice fairytale, eh?” he said. “There are not a lot of fairytales left in the world so this one was pretty special.

(Image: Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“It was a difficult decision. To be 100 per cent honest the plan was not to start him tonight.

“But Dejan and Ragnar have played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so I changed my mind this morning, and it helped!

“They could have played, it was a little higher risk than usual but we made the decision this morning that Virgil would start and obviously it was a good idea in the end!

“His whole game was good. He showed a lot of the things we want him to show in the future. Heading, of course, football-wise, first touch good under pressure, and around set-pieces he was a proper threat. Cool.

(Image: Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“You cannot score a header if nobody does the cross, and Oxlade made a goal for the second time in a row, at Burnley with the free kick and here with the corner.”

Klopp was clearly delighted with Van Dijk 's showing, and his all-round game.

“He was much better than I thought tonight, to be honest,” he said. “It's really difficult.

“I said before the game that my expectations are not easy to reach because I know how good he is. I only wanted him to show that.

“But we all know that expectation can lead to pressure, and you can look a little bit different. He obviously could stand the pressure tonight. He was for sure nervous, but you couldn't see it.

(Image: Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“He started the game quite well and after that he was in a tunnel, and that helped a lot. We defended a lot of situations well, and situations which were easy for him to handle because he is really good in the air.

“Then there were situations where it was a little bit tighter, and he had a brilliant first touch, played football, not too complicated. He played much better than I thought he would tonight.”

Klopp added: “We paid the money for him, but of course there is improvement. The first improvement is to adapt to the team, how we do it in different situations.

“We had a 15 minute session this morning, 11v11, no intensity, just movements. It was enough, We want him to be as natural as possible.

“Thank God he reacted like that. It's a really good start, a really nice one!”