Virgil van Dijk to be handed Premier League title by much-loved special Liverpool guest

Virgil van Dijk

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk will be presented with the Premier League trophy by the legendary Alan Hansen

a jam-packed Anfield will witnesses the club lift their 20th championship on Sunday afternoon.

Hansen, who won eight league titles for the Reds during his 620 appearances, was the last club captain to hold aloft the trophy itself in front of match-goers, back in 1990,

three decades before Jordan Henderson did likewise inside a virtually empty Anfield when Jurgen Klopp's 2019/20 side were crowned.

The iconic Hansen, who fought off a serious illness in June of last year, has been invited by Liverpool to present Van Dijk with the title after Sunday's visit from Crystal Palace,

alonside Mark and Jo McVeigh, who lost their son Owen to leukaemia at the age of 11 in December 2015.

Mark and Jo started the Owen McVeigh Foundation after the passing of their son and have since worked for over a decade to create memorable experiences for families through the oncology ward at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital,

with the private help of Reds skipper Van Dijk, who joined the Reds in January 2018 from Southampton.

Immediately after the final whistle against the new FA Cup holders, the players will leave the pitch as the arrangements for the trophy lift begin.

A stage will be built on the pitch before welcoming back Arne Slot's champions to pick up their winners' medals.

Given Palace are arriving on Merseyside just eight days on from winning their first major piece of silverware in the FA Cup, having beaten Manchester City at Wembley,

it promises to be a memorable event for both sets of fans as the curtain is drawn on a wildly successful domestic term for Slot's Reds.

The game is also likely to be attended by former managers Rafa Benitez and Jurgen Klopp, who are on Merseyside this weekend for different events, as the red half of city begin what will be a memorable few days of celebrating their record-equalling 20th title.

Klopp will be at the Anglican Cathedral on Friday as a special guest of the LFC Foundation as they host their Gala Ball.

Klopp became the Foundation’s first-ever honorary ambassador last summer following his departure from Anfield after nearly nine years,

while Benitez is in town to relive his finest hour of the 2005 Champions League victory over AC Milan, 20 years on from that famous evening, at an event at the Exhibition Centre on Friday.

On Monday the club will embark on a 10-mile tour of the city region with the Premier League trophy, with an estimated number of around one million flooding on to the streets to mark the occasion.