A season of mishaps continues for Virgil van Dijk as the Dutch international is subjected to harsh trolls and heavy criticisms yet again, following Liverpool’s 4-3 victory over Tottenham.
A 7-goal thriller that saw two injury-time goals went in the hosts’ way courtesy of a last-minute Diogo Jota winner after the Reds had surrendered a 3-0 lead to Spurs.
A game of two halves, the nail-biter clash was dominated by Liverpool for most of the first 45 minutes. Following the disaster against Newcastle, yet another embarrassment seemed to await Tottenham after Jurgen Klopp’s men had netted three goals in just 15 minutes at Anfield.
As it turned out though, it was not Tottenham’s turn to be embarrassed at the Anfield Arena on the night. Not them alone, at least.
Following the horrifying start to the game, the Lilywhites tried to claw some control back on the game that was slipping away faster than the rate of Spurs fans leaving the arena after fifteen minutes of action.
It was around the 40-minute mark when Tottenham’s summer signee Ivan Perisic was fed the ball on the left flank. As the Croatian ran down the left flank, he was met with the Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk who attempted to tackle Perisic. Faking to go down the touchline, the wing-back dropped his shoulders before cutting inside, leaving Virgil fallen on the ground on his backside.
Perisic managed to cross the ball in, which was converted by Harry Kane, who scored his 25th goal of the season, pulling one back for Spurs in the process.
Definitely a moment Virgil wouldn’t enjoy re-watching!
The incident was reminiscent of Lisandro Martinez’s fall against Liverpool earlier this season when Virgil’s teammate Salah made a mockery out of the Argentine. The rival fans, thus, were incredibly quick to jump on the internet with trolls of their own, flooding the footballing media with memes and banters.
Reacting to the disaster, a fan on Twitter commented, “he got folded like a deck chair on the beach! Most overrated defender in premiership history.”
Another user wrote, “Looks like Virgil is on the ice rink.”
Some fans compared Virgil’s slip to Boateng’s, meanwhile, a user wrote, “Gerrard will be proud”, referring to Stevie G’s iconic slip in 2014 that cost Liverpool the league title.
Here is a collection of some of the best memes that we found online.
The last-gasp win now sees Liverpool in fifth position on the Premier League table, 7 points off a UCL birth having played one more game than the fourth-placed United. With 5 games to go, a UCL spot looks hard to secure for the Scousers, a Europa League finish nevertheless would be an overachievement given the disastrous season Klopp’s side has had so far.
Spurs’ woes on the other hand continue. The luck hasn’t changed for the Lilywhites despite bringing in their third manager of the season so far. With both Aston Villa and Brighton breathing down their neck, a European spot is seemingly becoming a quixotic dream for sixth-placed Tottenham.