“Watch him defend, and we watch him score,” is a refrain often heard from Liverpool fans when serenading Virgil van Dijk.
His status as one of the world’s best centre-back of recent years needs no elaboration, while his tally of 19 goals since joining the Reds in 2018 is very respectable for a defender.
All but three of those have been headers (Transfermarkt), so we’re not used to seeing the 32-year-old smack one past an opposition goalkeeper with his feet.
However, in a training ground clip shared on Liverpool’s official Twitter channel on Monday evening, it’s clear that Van Dijk is well capable of whipping out an absolute rocket when the opportunity presents itself.
During the Reds’ pre-season preparations in Germany, the Dutchman caught a shot from the edge of the penalty area with such venom that the man standing in goal could only dive in vain as the ball crashed off the crossbar and into the net, briefly bouncing back into the top corner.
Opponents be warned; our masterful centre-back has a thunderbolt or two in his locker!
You can see the clip of Van Dijk’s training ground goal below, via @LFC on Twitter:
Some strike from @VirgilvDijk 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/dNOTnBVSAY
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 17, 2023