A video has emerged appearing to disprove the bizarre and impressive stat doing the rounds about Liverpool defender and PFA Player of the Year winner Virgil van Dijk.
A tweet below from Opta states that the Reds star hasn’t been dribbled past by an opponent all season long – which sounds pretty incredibly, we’re sure you’ll agree.
0 – No opposition player has completed a dribble past Virgil van Dijk in any of his 36 PL apps this season. In fact, this run stretches back to last March, meaning he hasn’t been dribbled past by an opponent in any of his last 45 PL apps. Immovable. #PFAAwards #POTY pic.twitter.com/Y8BIsle0vq
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 28, 2019
MORE: Video: Van Dijk scores powerful header to give Liverpool lead vs Newcastle
However, someone has dug up a clip of Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford appearing to quite clearly do exactly that as he beats Van Dijk for pace and gets the ball around him.
Here’s a random video of Marcus Rashford dribbling past Virgil Van Dijk back in December. @TheUnitedLink @ManUtdMindset @SibsMUFC ? ?? pic.twitter.com/CP4ES9hHjd
— FPL Ant (@FPL_Ant) April 30, 2019
Well, we’re sorry Man Utd fans, but it’s actually a little more complicated than that.
A little info from Give Me Sport explains the details of this rule well, with a successful dribble by a player needing to mean they successfully evaded an attempted tackle.
As the video above shows, Van Dijk didn’t really attempt a tackle on Rashford, with the England international instead just knocking the ball ahead of both of them and getting to it quicker.
It’s good skill and good play by Rashford, but not enough to take away his opponent’s record.
What do we think fans – a fair description or an unnecessarily specific one that lets defenders off the hook?