On This Day in 2013, Virgil Van Dijk conjured up a piece of brilliance as Celtic beat St Johnstone 1-0 at McDiarmid Park. The Boxing Day fixture is a Scottish football tradition and looking back over the years there have been some brilliant encounters and goals. None more impressive than Van Dijk, the Dutch central defender showed incredible skill in scoring against the Perth club.
The Boxing Day game of the 2013/14 season saw Neil Lennon’s side triumph over Tommy Wright’s team in Perth.The then-Celtic defender stepped out of defence, charged his way through the St Johnstone team before dispatching a shot beyond the helpless goalkeeper.
Hopefully, there will be a goal as good this afternoon as Celtic travel to Perth once again to face Callum Davidson’s St Johnstone. Ange Postecoglou’s side will be hoping to end the first half of the season with a win.
Van Dijk won two Premiership titles in Glasgow, as well as the League Cup under Ronny Deila & Collins but he also played European football, Champions League group stages in 2013 and Europa League Last 32 the following year. A £12m move to Southampton followed and two years after that, Van Dijk became the most expensive defender in the world after a £75m move to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. In that time, he has sealed the Champions League crown before helping Liverpool lift that allusive Premier League title in 2020.
