Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Manchester United newboy Joshua Zirkzee were involved in a heated derby ahead of the international break.
On that occasion, the centre-back got the better of Zirkzee and saw his Liverpool side get a huge 3-0 win at Old Trafford to maintain their perfect start under Arne Slot.
Fast-forward a week, the duo donned orange in Netherlands’ 5-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in their 2024/25 UEFA Nations League opener with Zirkzee scoring his first international goal.
A smooth sailing for the Dutch but Premier League fans couldn’t ignore the awkward tension between the Liverpool and Man United stars in a pre-match footage from the tunnel made available by Optus Sports.
As the two teams were preparing to come onto the pitch, Van Dijk tried to fulfill his duties as a captain by motivating his teammates and sharing a few hugs to pump up their energy levels.
Van Dijk can be seen sharing moments with the likes of Denzel Dumfries and Xavi Simons. But right after that, the Netherlands skipper decides to ignore Zirkzee and greet some of the kid mascots instead.
The Manchester United forward, too, showed little eagerness in warming up to his captain, shaking the hands of his other teammates instead.
This got some fans talking about if these two players brought their clubs’ rivalry to the national camp.
But the reality is something completely different.
It appears that moment was not a case of the two intentionally blanking each other. Viewers who saw the incident live on TV were quick to mention how the duo were in conversation while coming out to the tunnel.
In the footage above, Zirkzee is just behind Van Dijk as they arrived. So it’s quite possible that the two probably had their pre-match interaction in the dressing room rather than in front of the camera.
To further note that there isn’t any beef between the two, VVD was seen celebrating Zirkzee’s goal on the night.
The two were seen hugging each other and the Liverpool man seemed genuinely pleased to see the young forward reach a big achievement in his career.
Zirkzee too, expressed his delight about one of Van Dijk’s achievements before the game.
The win over Bosnia marked the Liverpool defender’s 75th game for the Netherlands national team. Even though he is well behind the all-time most-capped Dutch player (Wesley Sneijder with 134 appearances), Van Dijk is still one of highest-capped defenders for the Netherlands side.
Zirkzee was delighted to see the centre-back reach 75 international appearances and told Dutch outlet NOS: “Virgil van Dijk played 75 games for our country today, the vibes are good. He got an award. He also gave a speech.”
It’s clear that Van Dijk and Zirkzee get along pretty well with each other in the Netherlands camp and can put a halt to their domestic rivalry.
It’ll probably be all good vibes between the duo until they face each other at Anfield later this season.
