The Serbian striker was superb in the 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, scoring a brace on his return to the Premier League.
And one snippet of the game in particular summed up its release. A loose ball fell to the edge of the box and Mitrovic, as he had done all game, got onto it first.
Liverpool skipper Henderson challenged him but fell to the floor after feeling Mitrovic’s strange power.
He then faced Van Dijk, widely regarded as the best one-on-one defender in world football and a player who had never dribbled before until today.
For the first time since joining Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk was dribbled by an opponent and conceded a penalty in a single Premier League game.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is responsible for both. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HGt6pOy56f
— Squawka (@Squawka) August 6, 2022
But the former Newcastle forward had the Dutchman dancing with his quick feet and then produced a superb Cruyff turn before feeding Andrea Pereira down the left.
Mitrovic was almost unplayable on Saturday afternoon and had Van Dijk struggling later in the game – forcing the former Southampton man to concede a penalty.
He swerved expertly into the area, leading to a clumsy challenge that brought the penalty which Mitrovic converted to put his side 2-1 up.
Mo Salah continued his record of scoring in every opening weekend in the Premier League by scoring the second goal of Liverpool’s equalizer with ten minutes remaining.
But the game belonged to Mitrovic, who will be looking to finally get the job done in the top flight after scoring a stunning 43 goals in Fulham’s promotion from the Championship last term.
He scored just three goals in his final Premier League season in 2020/21.
