Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was the talk of the town for the Netherlands last night.

After plenty of criticism over the past year or so, the Reds centre-back stepped up to crash home a crucial, last-minute penalty to deliver a 1-0 win for the Dutch over Greece.

The win was a big one, with the Oranje leap-frogging their opponents into the second qualifying spot for Euro 2024. As a result, Van Dijk took to Instagram after the game to share his delight and, no doubt, relief.

"Boom!!! Put ourselves in the driving seat, let's make sure we finish it off next month!" wrote the 32-year-old, alongside a great shot of him celebrating his late goal.

Arsenal's Jurrien Timber was one of those in the comments, the 22-year-old simply writing 'Big.' So too was Manchester City's PS40m man Nathan Ake. Ake played the full 90 minutes alongside Virgil in the Dutch defence, and sent him an orange love heart and a flame emoji to mark the win. Sweet.

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Van Dijk finally wins praise A lot of the rhetoric around Van Dijk's leadership of his country has been that he hasn't been doing enough.

The likes of Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit have been openly critical of the Liverpool defender on more than one occasion.

In fairness, some of that criticism has been justified, if more than a little over the top.

He may not have always stepped up as needed for the Netherlands, but the truth is that they've had a pretty uninspiring team for most of Virgil's international career.

Had the Reds' No.4 been part of some of the iconic Dutch teams of the past, you can imagine he'd have flourished. Instead, Van Dijk has had to be the figurehead of a decidedly average group of players for the past five or six years.

Despite that, Virgil has still had his moments. His penalty yesterday should be enough to take them into Euro 2024. Having failed to qualify for the 2016 version, as well as the 2018 World Cup, Netherlands will now be three tournaments out of three under Van Dijk's leadership. Appreciate him.