STAGE SET FOR VIRGIL

Family man Van Dijk ready to show who's boss at Wembley

- CHRIS MCKENNA

VIRGIL VAN DIJK may fancy being the star of the show at Wembley once more in front of 90,000 fans tomorrow.

But he prepared for the big day by sitting with some other proud parents watching another member of the Van Dijk family take centre stage.

The Liverpool captain didn't spend Thursday night poring over videos of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak ahead of the Carabao Cup Final.

Instead, after a recovery session in the pool with his son, the match-winner from the Reds' victory over Chelsea in last season's final was at a school production of Fantastic Mr Fox in which his daughter Jadi was starring.

Fitting, given he will be looking to deny the Magpies' fox in the box tomorrow.

"She was really good, so I was really proud of her," said Van Dijk. "I came back in the evening and she had to finish a science project, and me and my wife helped her a little bit with it. But funny enough, with the play, there were also more kids from our team there. So Wata Endo, his son was also playing a good role, so it was nice to see each other there. It was good.