Gabriel Jesus becomes the first man to dribble past Virgil Van Dijk in 65 matches during the Community Shield match between Manchester City and Liverpool.
Manchester City and Liverpool continued their budding rivalry with an exhilarating display from both sides earlier in the day. With the Community Shield at stake, both teams went hard at each other from the go. Former Liverpool player, Raheem Sterling put one past the keeper early in the match. Liverpool trailed the English champions until the last quarter of the match when Joel Matip converted a cross from Virgil Van Dijk.
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With the scores tied, Liverpool looked threatening and at one point almost won the match. However, a sensational piece of defending by Kyle Walker on the goal line saw the match go to penalties. All but one participant in the penalty kick out failed to convert. Unfortunately for Liverpool, it was Wijnaldum who failed find the back of the net.
With this victory, Manchester City have continued their domestic dominance and have conquered all available trophies in England. There was also one man, who had dominated the domestic scene for the entirety of last season. However, unlike City, the dominance was shattered today.
Gabriel Jesus becomes the first man to dribble past Virgil Van Dijk
Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk had not been dribbled past since March 2018 and it looked like his reign of terror at the back would never end. However, City striker Gabriel Jesus found a way to breach the fort that was Van Dijk.
None of this “Van Dijk can’t be dribbled past” nonsense pic.twitter.com/cGKSXOAjW7
— Joe ❼ (@McfcRichyV2) August 4, 2019
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
Regardless, Van Dijk has been phenomenal and it will be foolhardy to write him off after just one average performance. The Dutchman won the PFA player of the year award for the 2018/19 season and is also nominated for the FIFA Best Men’s Player award and it is likely that he will pocket the prestigious trophy.
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