Newcastle United 2-3 Liverpool: 6 Men who won the game for Liverpool

#2 Virgil van Dijk

Newcastle United v Liverpool FC - Premier League

Fresh from being crowned the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, this should have been just another game for the Dutchman. However, the 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Barcelona in midweek appeared to be a reality check for the Dutchman. But there were no doubts that he could recover in time to help Liverpool resume their title chase.

Van Dijk gave his team the perfect start in the 13th minute. After Liverpool had won a corner, the Dutchman walked up to the box to try and pile the pressure on the home team. As Alexandar-Arnold sent in the ball, van Dijk beat his marker and went clear on goal. He beat Dubravka with a expertly taken header and gave Liverpool the lead.

From then on, it was an end to end affair, as van Dijk failed to help his team secure a clean sheet and Liverpool conceded the lead twice. However, after Liverpool’s third goal, the Dutchman kept his cool and helped Liverpool cross the line.

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Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Sujith M