Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus became the first player in 65 matches to dribble past Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk during the Community Shield – but the Dutchman’s record still remains.
Many fans have been debating whether Jesus had in fact dribbled past the defender, or whether he had simply touched it to the side and then passed the ball to a teammate, but there’s no need to argue.
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The Community Shield, an FA spokesperson has confirmed (according to GiveMeSport), is not classified as a competitive game, and so the statistics do not count. Van Dijk was technically dribbled past, but it doesn’t matter.
This rule was changed five years ago, and it will benefit Manchester City as well, because Pep Guardiola’s yellow card will not count towards his total, meaning he is no closer to getting a touchline ban than before the game.
In some ways, it would be better for Van Dijk to be dribbled past so it’s not something that’s spoken about any more – it’s hardly the most important statistic in the world. As long as he’s playing well and the Reds are winning, that’s all that matters.