Liverpool’s Community Shield defeat at the hands of Manchester City this afternoon saw Virgil van Dijk’s incredible long-standing streak of holding opposing dribblers at bay broken.
City emerge victorious
English football’s high-profile curtain raiser ahead of the new Premier League season took place a short time ago.
The Wembley showpiece is generally contested by the Premier League and FA Cup champions, but this year’s edition saw English top-flight runners-up Liverpool pitted against Man City, after Pep Guardiola’s men completed a clean sweep on the domestic front in 2018/19.
And the highly-anticipated clash certainly didn’t disappoint.
An end-to-end, opportunity-filled 90 minutes in London eventually saw City emerge with a penalty shootout victory.
Raheem Sterling handed the Sky Blues the lead with 12 minutes on the clock, when David Silva’s clever flick around the corner was bundled home by the former Liverpool man.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, however, grew into proceedings as the matchup wore on.
This eventually saw a sustained spell of pressure during the second-half result in Joel Matip deservedly levelling things up 12 minutes from time.
Liverpool also saw what looked set to be an injury-time Mo Salah winner miraculously cleared off the line by Kyle Walker:
Kyle Walker, that is absolutely spectacular 🤯
You won’t see a better defensive clearance all season! Ridiculous athleticism 🙌 pic.twitter.com/DvRJG3f8bs
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 4, 2019
This resulted in a penalty shootout between the sides, with a solitary miss from Gini Wijnaldum having eventually proved telling.
Van Dijk’s streak broken
Liverpool’s defeat, meanwhile, also saw an incredible individual record on the part of one of the Merseysiders’ star men snapped.
The player in question is Virgil van Dijk, who’s staggering streak of having not been dribbled past by an opposing player stretched back to early last year.
A burst by Gabriel Jesus at Wembley this afternoon, though, finally saw van Dijk beaten one-on-one, meaning the Dutch stopper’s run has come to an end at 65 competitive games:
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
Man City’s Leroy Sane to be presented as a Bayern Munich player by Wednesday – German Express
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