Liverpool v Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Semi Final: Second Leg
#3 Virgil van Dijk
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Liverpool v Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Semi Final: Second Leg
In the first leg, the Dutchman was humiliated by a rampant Lionel Messi, who made him look insignificant. Virgil van Dijk received a lot of criticism for his performance, even though he did not commit any serious mistakes in that game. As such, the Liverpool defender was out to seek redemption on the night and looked possessed against Barcelona at Anfield.
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Van Dijk was crucial to Liverpool neutralizing Lionel Messi. Every time the Argentinean got close to the box, van Dijk was on him in a flash. Messi actually had a great chance to score in the first half. However, it was van Dijk who came up with a crucial intervention and saved Liverpool.
The Dutchman did not put a foot wrong in the night and gave Liverpool the security to go all out on attack. Van Dijk was also crucial with his long balls from the back and it was from one of those balls that Liverpool scored the opening goal of the game.
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Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.