OPINION
Liverpool showed that they will probably be Man City’s biggest rivals again this season, when honours were shared after 90 minutes in Sunday’s season opener.
You can’t take too much from the Community Shield. More than just a friendly, it’s not a ‘real trophy’ and with the opening games of the season next weekend, neither team was at full throttle at Wembley.
However, it’s a chance to land the first psychological blow of the season and when Raheem Sterling put Man City ahead after just 12 minutes, it looked like City were going to pick up where they finished last season, on top.
However, Liverpool struck back through Joel Matip after 77 minutes and it was his defensive partner Virgil van Dijk who made the goal.
Van Dijk was found by a long Jordan Henderson ball at the far post and his half-volley found Matip who rose to head the ball into the back of the net.
Van Dijk, 28, was superb throughout, despite his long-standing record of 65 games falling.
Incredibly, van Dijk hadn’t been dribbled past in that many games, but Gabriel Jesus managed it on Sunday, becoming the first player since Mikel Merino for Newcastle in 2018.
65 – During the Community Shield final, Virgil van Dijk was dribbled past for the first time in his last 65 competitive appearances (by Gabriel Jesus) for @LFC since Mikel Merino did so for Newcastle in March 2018. Human. #CommunityShield pic.twitter.com/24B6WFcKUw
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 4, 2019
Aside from that, van Dijk showed again why he’s so critical to Liverpool’s success – and it’s his range of passing as much as his defensive qualities at the back that make him such an important player.
He made 73 passes with an accuracy of 89% – 94% from 46 passes inside his own half [SofaScore].
He created the Liverpool equaliser with a beautiful pass for Matip after Henderson found him with a long free-kick from the right.
Van Dijk controlled the ball with his chest before dinking a beautiful ball cross that his 6ft 5in teammate got on the end of (after narrowly missing connecting with the original ball).
Forget the headline-making stat about being dribbled past. That just highlights what an immense player van Dijk is.
With Harry Maguire going for an eye-opening £85m to Man United, it makes you wonder how much van Dijk would be worth.