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Football

20th Sep 2018

Virgil van Dijk clocked a faster top speed than Kylian Mbappe during Liverpool’s win over PSG

Mbappe, for a change, was not the fastest on the field

Simon Lloyd

Kylian Mbappe is fast. Really, really fast.

But on Tuesday night at Anfield, he was not as fast as Virgil van Dijk.

No, the annoyingly talented Frenchman, who briefly brought Paris Saint-Germain level against Liverpool, was clocked at a top speed of only – ‘only‘, lol – 32km per hour in his team’s 3-2 defeat on Merseyside.

This, according to figures from BT Sport, made him joint second fastest on the night, level with Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson.

Van Dijk’s top speed was recorded as being 32.4 km per hour, making him the fastest player on the field on the night.

https://twitter.com/JackCook95/status/1042756708391694339

Neymar was close behind Robertson and Mbappe with a speed of 31.7km per hour.

Liverpool built up a two-goal lead against PSG in the first half thanks to Daniel Sturridge’s headed opener and a penalty from James Milner, who has recently emerged as a serious candidate for this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Despite this, PSG halved the deficit before half-time thanks to a well-taken finish from Belgian fullback Thomas Meunier. Mbappe brought them level late on, only for substitute Roberto Firmino to restore the home side’s lead in stoppage time.

Liverpool have won all of their games this season and sit behind only Chelsea at the Premier League summit due to a marginally inferior goal difference. Their next Champions League game comes away to Napoli at the start of next month.