Virgil van Dijk is a finisher. He showed that on Monday night as the Dutchman bagged a 90th minute goal against Germany, and it appears he's been pretty prolific as a defender in front of goal since a young age.
In 2011, when van Dijk was at Groningen and just 19-years-old, he played as a makeshift striker with his club in desperate need of a goal.
And he delivered with not one but two goals.
Here's the story, it's the Dutch Eredivisie Play-offs against ADO Den Haag. Groningen are trailing 5-1 from the first-leg, and in need of a miracle to secure a result.
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They reduced the aggregated score by one goal yet Den Haag leveled proceedings.
Enter; van Dijk. The towering defender went up front and immediately made a difference. Well, from a set-piece. He converted a free-kick before adding another 11 minutes later.
Skip to (3:15) and (4:30) for his goals:
Groningen leveled the tie 6-6 but eventually lost on a penalty shootout.
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Then-Groningen manager Pieter Huistra recognised van Dijk's talent as a forward.
"He was a menace, causing panic, and he scored two goals," he said. "When I asked him, he just said, 'OK, no problem."
"One of his strengths is that, whenever you give him a challenge, he will rise to it," he added.
Surprisingly, van DIjk has only scored one goal for Liverpool since joining from Southampton for £75 million in January 2017.
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To be fair, it was a big goal - a late winner against cross-town rivals Everton in the FA Cup.
The 27-year-old, who's renown for his free-kicks, took a set-piece in Liverpool's most recent Premier League fixture against Fulham but to no success.
With the likes of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the side, van Dijk is going to find it hard to take many free-kicks.
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van Dijk has come close to scoring a second Liverpool goal. Is another goal around the corner?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Virgil Van Dijk
