The great Dutch defender has developed such an aura that he seems to implant uncertainty and doubt in even the fastest attackers. news about Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk after the game against Inter. But there was also some criticism after the 0-1 loss.
Liverpool, who had won 0-2 in Milan and therefore progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League despite the defeat, had quite a few opportunities, but only Lautaro Martinez managed to score at Anfield. And it is precisely with that goal that Van Dijk could have done more, according to some analysts.
“Van Dijk played a great game with his passing and his interceptions, that was incredible,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told CBS Sports. “He was so cool again. But as a defender you should be closer to Martinez. ”
“The only one I can criticize is Van Dijk,” said Rio Ferdinand, former Manchester United defender, at BT Sport. Pay attention, it remains a beautiful goal.”
Inews comes up with a completely own explanation for Inter’s goal. That would have happened as a result of Van Dijk’s qualities. ,,Martinez had scored 20 goals in 44 games before these games. In his last game he even signed for a hat trick. But Van Dijk is so big, so strong and so surprisingly fast for a player of his size – Van Dijk simply shouldn’t be able to accelerate that fast. In the first half it could already be seen that Martinez did not feel like going into a duel with him.”
,,The caution of Martinez towards Van Dijk turned out to be positive for Inter in the second half. Martinez didn’t feel like going into another duel with the Dutchman and decided to shoot the ball into the intersection. It was a great goal and a pretty effective alternative strategy.”
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp felt that Van Dijk could have done something more. ,,I have now looked at the images”, said the German. ,,It was a nice shot, but we should have defended much better.”
Van Dijk ended up last weekend in the record books by not losing in a home game in the Premier League for the 60th(!) time in a row. No one did that for him.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.