Georginio Wijnaldum has slowly but surely become an integral part of a Liverpool side hoping to go down as one of the best teams in the history of English football. The Dutchman has often stepped up on the biggest of stages to keep Liverpool’s hope of European dominance alive, even scoring the goal to take them back to the Champions League in 2017.
The former Newcastle United man, however, is often seen out of the limelight, cleaning up after his teammates and keeping the midfield ticking over. But, this hasn’t stopped the Dutchman from silently becoming the man for the big occasion in Merseyside.
The three games below are examples of when the Dutchman proved to be a gamechanger for Liverpool.
Georginio Wijnaldum: The Man For The Big Occasion
Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City
In 2016, Liverpool and Gini Wijnaldum capped off the year with a 1-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, a rivalry that has prospered since, to send the Reds into 2017 full of confidence for the year to come. The only goal of the game came within the first ten minutes with a certain flying Dutchman sending the ball home with a bullet header, something that has become somewhat of a trademark of his.
Wijnaldum’s header proved to be the winner in what was a tight game between the two and one that would also prove to be pivotal in the Reds chase for a Champions League return.
Liverpool 3-0 Middlesbrough
Despite being crowned the champions of Europe just one year ago, it wasn’t so long ago that Liverpool didn’t even have a place amongst the elite in the Champions League. In fact, it was only three years ago in May of 2017 that the Reds booked their place back in the competition as a result of a 3-0 victory over relegated Middlesbrough on the last day of the season.
And the result, on paper, may look like a dominant Liverpool win. But, it took until the 45th minute for the tension to drop when Gini Wijnaldum hammered the ball high into the near post of the net to give Liverpool a much-needed goal. And with Arsenal already ahead, the fans, much like the players, needed the goal to settle the ever-growing nerves. From there, Liverpool’s confidence only got stronger as did their performance, resulting in a comfortable 3-0 victory which started with a Wijnaldum rocket.
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool have enjoyed some of the most memorable moments in football under Jurgen Klopp in recent years. But, last years 4-0 comeback victory over Barcelona will go down as one of the best games the world of football has ever seen. And it was a comeback that, much like many other games in his Liverpool career, Gini Wijnaldum played a crucial part in.
The Dutchman entered the field in the second half where he would go onto score the two most important goals of his career in the space of two minutes. The first came as a result of a trademark Alexander-Arnold cross which found the incoming Wijnaldum, who sent the ball home.
The goal reduced their first-leg deficit to 3-2 on aggregate with Liverpool now in with every chance of levelling the tie. And, just two minutes later, they did just that via a trademark Gini Wijnaldum goal. The Dutchman sprung into action to latch onto Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross to dispatch a perfect header past the unmoved Ter Stegen. Liverpool famously went onto complete the comeback before going onto win the Champions League against Spurs in an unforgettable run that Wijnaldum played a pivotal part in.
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