Virgil van Dijk may well be at the midway point of the most important week of Liverpool's season but the captain, true to the terrace anthem created in his honour, is a picture of calm at the AXA Training Centre.
Decked out in training apparel and sipping on a specially-made smoothie, complete with name tag on - which, he reveals, contains only oranges and a "splash of ginger" - the Reds skipper is in a relaxed mood as he meets a handful of reporters to preview Sunday's Carabao Cup final with Newcastle United.
After fronting up at the end of virtually every game for a number of years now, it is perhaps the familiarity with those he is chatting to that has helped foster such an informal, conversational atmosphere, but it's also clear Liverpool's No.4 is determined not to place too much pressure on either himself or his team-mates ahead of a second successive Carabao Cup final.
READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk gives most significant Liverpool contract update yet as summer possibility explained
And when a game of such importance comes into focus on the back of a bruising Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, a tranquil, level-headed approach is important.
Van Dijk, who chats for around 30 minutes in the AXA's commercial lounge, muses on a range of topics from his pride at being captain for club and country, his willingness to go above and beyond for head coach Arne Slot and, inevitably with his contract due to expire, his long-term future.
It is when the 33-year-old is asked how he spent his Thursday off, however, that he really comes alive. "That's a good question, you know!" he says as he reclines in his chair. As it turns out, the time away from the training pitch was spent watching his daughter, Jadi, star in a school production of Fantastic Mr Fox, reprising a role once reserved for none other than Meryl Streep, as Mrs Fox.
"She was really good, so I was really proud of her," says 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. And this morning I did the school run.
"I'm also a normal father, husband, man, and I like to do normal things as well. And when you've been seen as normal as well, and obviously it's difficult, but going to school is a nice thing. You go to school, obviously some of the kids are looking up, thinking, like: 'What are you doing here?'
"But obviously there's more to it, you know, I really like doing that, The most important thing in life is my kids and my wife. So yeah, these things are definitely important, but they fully understand as well when it's time to fully focus on the task ahead."
Despite a watching brief for the amateur dramatics, it will be Van Dijk who takes centre stage once more on Sunday afternoon as Liverpool aim to lift the first piece of silverware of the Slot era at Wembley. It was 13 months ago when the Reds skipper led his team out before netting the dramatic winner against Chelsea, as a patched-up team littered with youngsters - owing to an injury crisis of almost comical proportions - beat the expensively assembled London side.
Liverpool went into last year's showpiece without 11 first-team stars including Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Darwin Nunez, before Ryan Gravenberch was stretchered off after 30 minutes. Wataru Endo added to the woes, post-match, by leaving Wembley on crutches and in a protective boot.
Despite a team full of fledglings though, it was Van Dijk's extra-time header that settled it the Reds' way as they secured a record 11th League Cup and ensured Jurgen Klopp ended his final year in charge by adding to the club's lengthy honours' list.
Van Dijk says: "To be a match winner as a defender on a special evening like that, where obviously we were playing against a good Chelsea, conceding chances against us, but Caoimh Kelleher had a fantastic game, youngsters are coming on.
"Obviously Jurgen leaving, and me scoring in the early stages of the game (before seeing it ruled out), and then eventually scoring the winner, I think it was a special evening. But yeah, there are so many good things that have happened since my time here, and one day I will properly reflect on everything. But if I think about it now, it brings back so many good memories.
"I think injuries unfortunately happen in football, no-one wants to be injured, everyone is trying their best in order to be fit for each and every game. But at that time, obviously, it was very frustrating for each one of us, but the players who were there had to deliver, and you still are good enough to play on the highest level if you play for Liverpool in my opinion. I think the guys and the young boys who came through as well did fantastic that night. It was a great night.
"Obviously for me to be the winner that night was the icing on the cake, but I just wanted to lift the trophy with Jurgen, that was the main target, to get my first trophy and lift it together with Jurgen. I was happy that I could do it."
As Liverpool head to Wembley once more with a 15-point advantage over Arsenal ahead of the weekend's action in the Premier League, it's easy to forget the apprehension many felt when the relatively unheralded Slot replaced the iconic Klopp last summer.
Van Dijk remembers pledging his allegiance to his compatriot while on holiday, telling him in their first phone conversation that he was willing to be a sounding board; on call for all his new boss' queries around the rigours of English football.
"For me, personally, the very first conversation I had with him, after the Euros when I was on holiday," Van Dijk recalls. "One of the first things I said to him was: 'No matter what you need, whatever you need, I am here for you. You can always call, always text me, any questions, whatever.'
"And obviously as a captain you are always a bit in between the players and the manager and I think since day one it has been going perfectly smoothly. Obviously it helps we speak both Dutch but in general the way he is handling the players, the squad, how he goes about handling those who aren't playing as much, he's been very good.
"It's enjoyable, but at the end of the day, we all know it works in the business. You get judged at a club like Liverpool at what you win at the end of the road and we have to keep working."
Van Dijk is nearing the end of his second season as club captain, having replaced Jordan Henderson in the summer of 2023 by appointment of Klopp. So far, the Netherlands star's predecessor is the only skipper to have lifted the title in its Premier League guise at Anfield, and it's something the current custodian concedes will have a huge say on his legacy, even if he claims he hasn't thought too much about his standing in the pantheon of greats, given there is still so much to play for.
"Listen, I think that's definitely a moment where you're just going to reflect a little bit on my whole life," he says. "Obviously as a football player, of course, but just to be where I am today with all the hard work, and obviously talent is there, a bit of luck is there, but mostly it's the hard work and people around me that are very important in the way to where I am today.
"I said it many times, I think, to be in a position now where I'm the captain of Liverpool Football Club, but also of Holland, these things I would have never imagined when I was younger.
"I think [being known as a great] is not something for me to say about myself, but I think if you were to lift the two trophies, obviously we are still in the competition, I think you have a pretty good chance to be in a nice list of captains that have achieved great things in this club.
"That's obviously a big dream of mine, since I became the captain of the club. We're still not there, we have a lot of hard work still to do, but you can already say that I'm really so proud of the guys, and to help the boys each and every day to hopefully achieve our dreams, and 10 games to go."
