It says a great deal about Liverpool’s defensive options that Joel Matip is far from being a drop-off in any way shape or form from the club’s accepted first-choice pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
Joe Gomez’s poor marking of Erling Haaland was enough to allow the Norwegian to find an early opener, though the Cameroonian helped the Reds find an equaliser with a lovely run from just beyond the halfway line before providing the pre-assist for Fabio Carvalho’s equaliser.
Talk about composure! 👏
Fábio Carvalho made this finish look easy! 💪 pic.twitter.com/osy3sRTMm2
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 22, 2022
Inevitably, it led to an outpouring of love from the central defender’s adoring fans on Twitter who’ve come to massively appreciate his daring runs across the park.
READ MORE: (Video) Jamie Carragher shares bleak FSG view amid Bellingham transfer links
We’d have to agree that, certainly beyond the red half of Merseyside, it does seem that the former Schalke star is massively underrated by the footballing world.
His movement on the ball is particularly impressive for a centre-half, often allowing us to find the necessary breakthrough we need to create a goalscoring opportunity.
You can catch some of the fan reaction on Twitter below:
Saw so many tweets earlier saying “sell Matip” when LFC Twitter randomly decided he was injured and, respectfully, those people can all fuck off #mciliv
— Sally (@SalligatorLFC) December 22, 2022
Matip with his precision passing man we love to see it #LFC #MCILIV
— Mara (@mara_lfc) December 22, 2022
It's Messi vs. Matip for the 2023 Ballon d'Or.
— Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) December 22, 2022
Matip is massively underrated by the fanbase, his ability to dribble the ball out from the back is massively underrated
— John O Sullivan (@Corballyred) December 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/SamueILFC/status/1606025230123618304