What Van Dijk did to Kylian Mbappe tonight at Anfield has gone viral

The Frenchman did, admittedly, look set to find his groove as he charged towards the hosts’ goal in the opening 45, outstripping all before him for pace.

That is, of course, until Conor Bradley, the Reds’ deputy left-back, stepped in to deprive the World Cup winner of possession with a perfectly timed, crunching slide tackle.

One of the best tackles you’ll see from Conor Bradley on Kylian Mbappé ⛔ pic.twitter.com/Ucn29ejXPn

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 27, 2024

Mbappe wasn’t the same after that, whilst the Northern Ireland international only grew into the tie further.

Virgil van Dijk sent Kylian Mbappe for the newspaper

Curtis Jones tackles Kylian Mbappe during Liverpool v Real Madrid.Conor Bradley has been exceptional – (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

If Real Madrid fans were hoping for another moment of inspiration from their No.9 in the first half of action at L4 – they were to be left disappointed.

Virgil van Dijk further added to the French international’s misery with a show of strength against the Los Blancos striker to send the footballer tumbling back over himself.

The response on X (formerly Twitter) from fans online has been, as one might imagine, quite significant.

Van Dijk deserves atleast yellow for that tackle on Mbappe !! pic.twitter.com/UedHY6mhWT

— Jackky (@JackkyRMFC) November 27, 2024

With that in mind, it’s far from surprising that the former PSG sensation has racked up a 6.4 rating on Sofascore (at the time of writing).

Mbappe has only managed one shot on target so far – having also had a penalty saved by Caoimhin Kelleher in the second half – against Arne Slot’s league-topping Reds.

Liverpool’s backline has been seriously impressive v Real Madrid

Despite Andy Robertson giving away what was, in our view, a supremely soft penalty, there can be little in the way of criticism levelled against Liverpool’s back four on Wednesday evening.

The defence averaged a 7.15 rating with 70 minutes gone on the clock, completing 13/19 ground duels contested against the La Liga champions, according to Sofascore.