Dynamic Wijnaldum unleashed repressed skills against Germany

Liverpool midfielder Gini Wijnaldum unleashed his dynamic side to delight the Dutch as the Netherlands beat Germany 4-2 during the EURO qualifiers.

The Reds midfielder is a key part of his country’s national side and scored in added time to make life comfortable for Die Oranje.

Under Jurgen Klopp, those sorts of attacking instincts are often shackled as the German required Wijnaldum to repress those skills and play a more defensive role.

It’s one that’s relatively new to the former PSV starlet, and throughout his career he’s been able to find the back of the net fairly regularly.

More from Rush The Kop

• Set to return, Virgil Van Dijk facing heavy criticism back home
• Liverpool making late comebacks all the rage once again
• Wolves tilt gives Klopp opportunity to tinker with lineup following international duty
• Players to watch in the matchup with Wolves
• Predicting Liverpool’s Next Five Premier League Fixtures

For context, the 28-year-old has 63 goals and 24 assists in 220 Eredivisie appearances but only 21 and 16 in 146 Premier League games. And what’s more, almost half of those strikes were during his debut top flight season with Newcastle United.

And he certainly showed those attacking instincts against Germany, who were undone by a Wijnaldum masterclass.

Gini provided the assist for the third Dutch goal, the strike which gave them the lead, and then hit the fourth to put the game to bed.

His assist was also a thing of beauty as he got himself in the box – something he does less regularly with Liverpool – and chipped a pass over the trailing leg of the German defender and into the path of former Arsenal youngster Donyell Malan.

Wijnaldum then put in an incredible shift and ran more than half of the pitch to finish a pure counter-attacking move by the Netherlands. After pinging the pass forward, he belted his way into the box and got on the end of the return ball and smashed it into the net.

It was pure Gini and it showed some deeply repressed side of the player, but it also shows off his wide range of skills and the discipline he puts himself under while playing for Liverpool.