Virgil Van Dijk: Liverpool Star Caught ‘Destroying’ Penalty Spot Before Jarrod Bowen’s Miss

• Virgil Van Dijk performed an old-school trick of tampering with the penalty spot prior to Jarrod Bowen missing his spot kick
• Whether interfering with the spot usually works remains unanswered, as Bowen took an extremely poor penalty altogether
• Liverpool won the game courtesy of a Darwin Nunez header in the first half, to record back-to-back wins for the first time since August

Liverpool's main centre-back Virgil Van Dijk was spotted performing a bizarre ritual of sorts during his side's game against West Ham United.

West Ham had made the trip to Merseyside to face Liverpool at the Anfield Stadium on October 19, 2022. Liverpool were fresh from that confidence-boosting win over Manchester City.

Darwin Nunez put Liverpool ahead with a bouncing header in the 22nd minute. The Uruguayan was a livewire the entire encounter and should have gotten a second, only to see his effort hit the woodwork.

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Football

Penalty awarded after VAR review

Towards the end end of the first half, Joe Gomez clattered into West Ham's Jarrod Bowen in the penalty area. After an on-pitch VAR review, referee Stuart Attwell awarded a spot kick.

Bowen immediately took responsibility for the penalty. As the players waited for the referee's decision, Van Dijk was seen 'destroying' the penalty spot.

The Netherlands international was caught stamping on the spot. Players have often done this before just before an opponent takes a penalty.

Van Dijk's tactics seemingly worked, as Bowen took a very poor set piece that was easily thwarted by Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal.

Liverpool held on to win and climb up to 7th on the table. Whether Van Dijk's actions put off Bowen or not, we will never know.

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Football

Russian player scores outrageous penalty

While Bowen missed his penalty, Sports Brief had earlier reported that a Russian footballer is receiving plaudits again after a video of his astonishing back-flip penalty went viral on social media.

Norik Avdalyan scored a similar penalty in 2018, and it seems he is earning a reputation for scoring spectacular goals.

The 26-year-old stepped up to take the penalty and left fans, players and even commentators in awe of his acrobatic style.