Virgil van Dijk has gone 65 games without being dribbled past, that’s according to the FA who say that Gabriel Jesus’ successful dribble in the Community Shield doesn’t count towards the stats.
Everyone knew that Virgil van Dijk hadn’t been dribbled past in a long time so there was a lot of excitement when it finally happened at the Community Shield, but it seems everyone got ahead of themselves.
That means that Gabriel Jesus’ moment in the 88th minute, where he seemingly broke the 65 match, over year long streak, didn’t count in the slightest.
The FA declassified the ‘season curtain raiser’ five years ago and that means that goals, assists and cards in the match at Wembley don’t count towards a players record.
On top of Jesus’ dribble not counting Raheem Sterling and Joel Matip’s goals won’t count on the players’ records.
Guardiola’s men won the league for the second season in a row, with 98 points, and added the FA Cup and Carabao Cup to become the first domestic treble winners in the country.
The former Barca boss was insistent, in the same was Jose Mourinho had previously been at Manchester United, that people should also count last summer’s Community Shield win.
On Sunday the league champions needed penalties to defeat last season’s runners up and once again beat them to silverware.
Raheem Sterling finally broke his duck against his former club, opening the scoring to put City ahead after just 12 minutes, before Joel Matip equalised with less than 15 minutes to go.
With the seconds running out Kyle Walker pulled off a ridiculous goal line clearance to deny Mo Salah a winner before the game went to penalties.
Georginio Wijnaldum was the only man to miss his spot kick as City won 5-4 on penalties.
In the end though main headline from the match wasn’t real and it’s like the moment Van Dijk got dribbled past was all a dream. Can Norwich actually end the run on Friday?
YFMGhana.com/Stanley Azu
