Despite defeat, Van Dijk's humiliation of Dibu Martinez

Football once again chose between two world powers, Argentina and the Netherlands, who decided in a penalty shootout the second ticket to the semi-finals after the failure of the five-time world champions Brazil, who lost in the same situation, against the surprising Croatia. Liverpool Premier League superstar Virgil van Dijk, who played the entire match, provided enough courage through his area to tie the game momentarily.

Van Dijk, who played as many minutes as possible in the match, brought all his experience and class to this type of direct elimination matches. The Oranje captain and star of the Red's, took the responsibility of having failed for the fans, since after an agonizing draw in regular time and overtime, van Dijk took the ball and stood in front of Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez to collect the first shot of the Dutch.

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The defender showed his class in Qatar by not registering a single booking in five games for van Gaal's side, who praised the work of the Red's star throughout the tournament. "We have a solid defence led by Virgil, Timber and Aké. Van Dijk has shown during his career that he is the leader you need at key moments," revealed the Dutch coach in his third spell in charge of the 'Tulips'.

At 31, Virgil van Dijk showed more class than Aston Villa goalkeeper Dibu Martinez, who was unable to contain the explosion of emotion that a world-class player brings to his team. At several points in the game, the central defender gave precise orders to Timber and Aké, who combined to dry up Messi on the pitch, who struggled to find relief when he scored from a dubious penalty.

Van Dijk and his team say goodbye to Qatar

After the referee's final whistle, the Netherlands players broke ranks, where they will take this weekend to bid farewell to Qatar and return to training with their respective teams, who are currently playing friendly matches, for example The Pool will face Olympique Lyon and AC Milan in Dubai in the coming days for their short tour before returning to Anfield to focus on the EFL Cup clash against Manchester City.