17 October 2023 , 09:26
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Virgil van Dijk blasted the state of the pitch at the OPAP Arena, after scoring a last-minute penalty to put the Netherlands in pole position to qualify for Euro 2024.
Van Dijk's spot-kick was enough for Ronald Koeman's side to secure all three points against Greece on Monday night. The Liverpool skipper was blinded by laser lights as he stepped up to take the penalty though, with Greek fans shining the lights into Netherlands players all night.
Despite the distraction, Van Dijk buried his spot-kick past Odisseas Vlachodimos, who had earlier saved a penalty from Wout Weghorst. The defender appeared to be willing to move past the laser distraction after the game though, instead taking aim at the pitch.
"Have you seen the pitch? Terrible. It's unbelievable that this is still allowed at this level. You can't let us play on that, can you? That's really a shame. We created chances with the [first] penalty and a couple of times on the counter," he said.
"At the end, they threw on two extra strikers and gave us problems, but the penalty went in and we got over the line. And for that penalty, I had all kinds of laser pointers pointed at my eyes.
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"Greece kept winning in this group and we kept chasing them, but we beat Greece twice and now we are the ones in the driving seat. Now we have to finish the job to qualify, and we will."
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Virgil van Dijk stuck his tongue out at Greek fans after their attempts to distract him when taking a last-minute penalty failed (Getty Images)The Netherlands skipper later posted a photo on Instagram of the laser lights in his eyes, with the caption: "Boom!!! Put ourselves in the driving seat, let’s make sure we finish it off next month!"
The win means that that if the Dutch beat the Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar next month, they will qualify for Euro 2024 in second place in Group B. They have a head-to-head advantage over Greece, who are level on points but only have one game left.
Van Dijk stepped up to take the penalty when Denzel Dumfries was fouled inside the area. He had taken over responsibilities from Weghorst, who missed a spot-kick in the first half, with boss Koeman praising his side for getting through a tough group.
"Wout Weghorst is our first penalty taker, Xavi Simons second, Virgil van Dijk third. If you see the way Wout takes them in training. And then you see this penalty. I don't know where it went wrong. I didn't have this difficulty myself in the game," Koeman said.
"This has been a tough group. We were unlucky with this draw. If you look at other groups, you see countries facing much worse opponents. We drew France.. and Greece improved a lot."
Van Dijk will now return to Liverpool ahead of Saturday's Merseyside Derby clash against Everton. He will be back on international next month for the Netherlands' final games of Euro 2024 qualifying.