Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk showed off his enduring quality with a dominant aerial display for Holland today.
Van Dijk played every minute of Holland’s 3-1 win over USA as they reached the World Cup quarter final. And covering the game for BBC Sport, Martin Keown was impressed with the Liverpool’s man’s defending.
Reacting to an important defensive header from the 31-year-old, Keown commented on van Dijk’s commanding presence in the air.
“That’s two [impressive headers] on the trot now. He’s so powerful in the air, van Dijk,” raved the commentator.
Van Dijk strolls through to quarter final
So, Virgil is the first Liverpool player into the hat for the final eight. Playing in his debut major tournament with Holland, that’s fantastic to see.
He may have impressed Keown, but it was a relative stroll in the park for Liverpool’s No.4 on Saturday afternoon. USA didn’t manage to threaten too often, as the Netherlands kept them at arm’s length.
With van Dijk in the middle of a back three, he was well protected by both Jurrien Timber and Nathan Ake either side of him.
Still, he managed to rack up some decent defensive stats. As per Fotmob, van Dijk won 100% of his tackles, made three blocks, four clearances and seven recoveries.
Haji Wright did manage to sneak in-front of the Liverpool man to score an inexplicable goal with 15 minutes left. But no blame could be attributed to van Dijk, who was nicely goal-side of Wright.
Now, Virgil moves into the last eight and a probable date with Argentina and Lionel Messi.
That should be a bigger test for the centre-back, as he tries to shackle arguably the greatest player ever. With so much potentially riding on the game for Messi, van Dijk will be licking his lips at the thought of being a party pooper.
Still, Messi and co will have to get past Australia first, later on this evening. That’s of no concern to Virgil, who can put his feet up after a job well done today.
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