Gary Lineker has taken to Twitter to react after Liverpool beat Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final, and he’s made a claim about Virgil van Dijk.
What’s the story?
Well, Liverpool lifted their first League Cup under Jürgen Klopp with a penalty shootout win over Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday.
Remarkably, the Reds didn’t miss a single penalty, as they beat the Blues 11-10 in what was an exceptional shootout.
We saw Fabinho bravely dink the ball down the middle, while we also witnessed Caoimhin Kelleher confidently smash his penalty past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
However, Lineker appeared to enjoy Van Dijk’s spot-kick the most.
Liverpool’s No.4 could see that Kepa was standing on the left of the goal, as the Spaniard clearly tried to get inside the Dutchman’s head.
Despite that, Van Dijk smashed the ball at that side of the goal anyway, and the power took it beyond the helpless Kepa.
Van Dijk even gives the 27-year-old a cold stare as he walks back to the halfway line.
After watching footage of the penalty, Lineker said it was “definitely” in his top ten penalties of all time – you can see the BBC Match of the Day host’s tweet in full below.
Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk found marginal gains
Liverpool’s penalties at Wembley on Sunday were some of the best we’ve seen – the Reds were absolutely exceptional from 12 yards.
So, why was that? Aside from the individual quality of the players, Klopp revealed that Liverpool had been working with neuro11 in the buildup to the Carabao Cup final.
Klopp said that the neuroscience team actually chose the order of Liverpool’s penalty takers, and have been practising shootouts with the Reds for weeks.
The overall setup at Anfield right now is of the highest quality, and Liverpool will be delighted to see their work with neuro11 pay off.
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