Virgil van Dijk insisted that ‘the sky is the limit for Jarell Quansah after his impressive performance in Liverpool‘s 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

Quansah stepped in for Ibrahima Konate, who had suffered an injury during Liverpool’s 5-1 victory over Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday.

The 21-year-old produced a mature performance against Manchester City’s attackers and received a massive compliment from Van Dijk after the game.

When asked about Liverpool’s young star Jarell Quansah, Van Dijk told Sky Sports: ‘He’s been important. Every challenge that was thrown his way he dealt with.

‘He was outstanding again. The sky is the limit. He just needs to stay humble and keep working hard and keep improving.

Jarell Quansah showed a strong display against Manchester City

The 21-year-old has been playing more regularly for Liverpool throughout the season

The 21-year-old responded saying that he is trying ‘to be like Van Dijk.

‘I’ve improved a lot but for me it’s just about improving still. I didn’t have the perfect game but I’m striving to be good and to be like this man next to me.’ Quansah added.

‘We didn’t win the game. We didn’t keep a clean sheet. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have if you want to be a top defender which I’m aspiring to be’ the defender continued.

‘For us the task was to win the game and we had chances in the second half. To come away with a point is not a bad situation so we just have to be positive.

‘The next few weeks we just have to enjoy the ride. If you think back to 12 months ago where we were.

‘Look where we are right now. It’s something we don’t take for granted. Sometimes in life in football these things happen. I want to make sure that we enjoy this as well.’

After John Stones opened the scoring early on from Kevin De Bruyne’s inventive corner kick technique, the hosts found a way back into the game through Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty.

Quansah revealed that he is ‘trying to be like Van Dijk’ in a post-match interview

Levelling the scoring, Anfield had a second wind with Liverpool dominating the second half but were unable to find the winner.

Liverpool face Sparta Prague in the Europa League Round of 16 second-leg at home on Thursday, while Manchester City host Newcastle in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.