‘Shocked’ Van der Vaart slams Liverpool star in ‘Boeing 747’ comparison after Netherlands draw
Dutch legend Rafael van der Vaart has hit out at Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk for turning like “Boeing 747” in the Netherlands’ draw against Japan at the World Cup.
The Reds captain scored the opening goal of the game as the Netherlands twice took the lead in a 2-2 draw against Japan at the World Cup on Sunday.
Keito Nakamura cancelled out Van Dijk’s header six minutes later before Crysencio Summerville scored his first Netherlands goal on 64 minutes to put the Dutch back into the lead.
However, Daichi Kamada’s 89th-minute strike gave Japan a share of the spoils with the Netherlands left to rue missed chances.
Liverpool captain Van Dijk was named the man of the match against Japan but Netherlands legend Van der Vaart was “shocked” by how poor the defender was in the first half and likened him to an aeroplane.
Former Real Madrid and Tottenham midfielder Van der Vaart said of Van Dijk at half-time to NOS: “I have to be honest: I was quite shocked by Van Dijk.
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“With him, I thought: that doesn’t look good. Especially while turning.
“It is proving very difficult. A bit like a Boeing 747 turning.
“I hope he starts turning a bit faster during the tournament.”
Reacting to taking a point from their Group F opener, Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman said: “It is our minimal standard, I should say. We need to grow during the tournament.
“We need to perform better. Of course, we would have preferred to win the first game and we were expecting it because we went ahead twice. It didn’t happen but it doesn’t mean that we now think that our performance was not good enough. I think there were quite a lot of positive moments during the game so the only way is up.”
Van Dijk will be looking to avoid further disappointment at the World Cup after coming off the back of a poor season of club football at Liverpool.
‘This has been a very disappointing season’ – Van Dijk
Three matches before the end of the Premier League season, the Liverpool captain apologised for an “unacceptable” campaign under Arne Slot, who has now been replaced by Andoni Iraola.
Van Dijk said in a matchday programme: “In many ways that has been the story of our season; we just haven’t been able to build any kind of momentum. We have had some good spells in games, some good wins even, but we haven’t been able to follow those up and really create some consistency.
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“That is extremely frustrating for everyone associated with the club because, as we all know, consistency is the hallmark of successful teams. We keep going, though. We keep working and we stick together.
“We know we still have a job to do to secure Champions League qualification for next season, and we want to do that as soon as possible. We have three games left to play, and we want to win them all, starting on Saturday.
“Chelsea, like ourselves, have found it difficult at times this season, but we know that they possess a lot of talent in their squad. They will be motivated after a disappointing result of their own last weekend, and we know we will need to be at our best if we want to get the three points.
“Like I say, that is our target, nothing more. This has been a very disappointing season – an unacceptable one, in my opinion – but we cannot feel sorry for ourselves. That is not what Liverpool is about.
“We are all frustrated of course, but we want to try to finish on a positive note, secure that Champions League spot and give you guys at least something to take away from a tough campaign.”
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