Liverpool star Gini Wijnaldum has revealed that injured team-mate Virgil van Dijk asked for the midfielder to score a goal ahead of kick-off at Anfield on Sunday night.
The big man took his seat behind the coaches and watched on as his compatriot bagged an unbelievable goal from range – a rifled effort into the top-right corner, leaving Rui Patricio with no chance.
Wijnaldum headed straight over to van Dijk and dropped his signature celebration, dedicating the strike to the injured defender, much to our No.4’s delight.
Speaking after the game, Gini explained that Virgil had asked him to score a goal in the changing rooms ahead of kick-off, and the midfielder duly obliged.
“I already said that every goal I score this year I will dedicate to him because we all miss him,” Wijnaldum told Liverpoolfc.com.
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“It was great to have him back. He said to me in the dressing room, ‘I want to see something today, I want a goal’ so I said: ‘No problem!’”
If all it takes for Gini to turn on the goal-scoring form he has for his national side in the red shirt of Liverpool, hopefully van Dijk asks for the midfielder to bag every week!
But on a more serious note, it’s nice to see the togetherness in the team that the Dutch duo show on a regular basis – they’re genuinely brothers in arms amongst a squad of closely-knit mates.
The Reds are in action again on Wednesday night as they travel to Denmark to take on Midtjylland, which is a game they can’t really lose, having already qualified for the Champions League knockouts.