SHANE LONG revealed he played a cheeky prank on Virgil van Dijk which left him “raging” during their time together at Southampton.
The Republic of Ireland and Netherlands internationals shared a dressing room at St Mary’s until Van Dijk‘s move to Liverpool in 2018.
During this spell, they also crossed paths with their respective countries in May 2016.
Martin O’Neill‘s side welcomed the Dutch to the Aviva Stadium as they ramped up preparations for Euro 2016.
And things got off to a dream start when Shane Long scrambled Ireland into the lead from a corner in the 30th minute.
Luuk de Jong‘s goal on 85 minutes would see the two sides end level at 1-1, but Long — who would subsequently face Van Dijk at club level – used his goal to get one over his then-teammate.
Appearing on Ben Foster‘s ‘Fozcast’ podcast, the Tipperary man explained: “I played against him for Liverpool, obviously, and Holland as well.
“I always used to try and go on the other centre-back.
“He had everything. He was obviously strong as an ox, good in the air, but he was rapid so there was no real weak point to his game.
“We did play against him in the Aviva in Dublin and I think he was marking John O’Shea or something from a corner and the ball broke to me and I scored, tapped it in from a yard.
“As I am running away, there is a photo of Virgil on the ground behind me and me running away celebrating.
“I got that framed and put it in his space at Southampton when i came back.
“He was raging. Just a little joke – ‘you can’t mark me.’ Nobody knew he wasn’t marking me.”
The Premier League winner would take the jibe in his stride, with Long remarking that he “thought it was a bit of craic”.
After moving to Liverpool in 2018, Van Dijk established himself as one fof the most formidable and dominant defenders in English and European football.
He won the Premier League and Champions League under Jurgen Klopp, but he and his teammates have now embarked on a new era under Arne Slot.
The Reds have won three of their four league games under the Dutchman – their only blemish being defeat to Nottingham Forest last time out.
They bounced back from that with a 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League in midweek.
And they can continue their bright Prem form with win over Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
Caoimhin Kelleher could make his first appearance of the season, with the Ireland goalkeeper set to deputise in place of the injured Alisson.