Virgil van Dijk has earned plenty of praise from his home country after his latest performance for the Netherlands.
The Liverpool centre-back starred in the Dutch’s 2-0 win over Qatar in their final World Cup group match on Tuesday. It means that the Netherlands finish top of their group, and will play the United States of America in their last-16 tie.
Last week, Van Dijk was criticised by Netherlands legend Marco van Basten in one of their previous group games. The Liverpool defender responded to the remarks by his compatriot earlier this week.
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And now after his latest match against Qatar, the Dutch media have rated Van Dijk very highly for his performance. One report even made reference to the comments made by Van Basten as possible motivation for the Liverpool centre-back.
Football Oranje wrote: “Swept up well and dealt with anything aerially.
“He even looked more animated than usual and looked visibly angry after some poor sloppy play by his teammates. A better captain’s performance.”
While Voetbal Primeur said: “After the strong criticism from Marco van Basten, Van Dijk had something to prove.
“The captain was alert and looked for the solution more often. That's how he should play, Van Basten will think.”
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