Van Dijk gave Collins lesson in scoring but now Cardiff ace wants to grab winner

JAMES COLLINS would love to show the tables on Virgil van Dijk at this time after the Liverpool famous person gave him a lesson in GOALSCORING.

The Cardiff striker clashed with the Dutchman once they have been children taking part in in Scotland.

And former Hibernian ace Collins, 31, will always remember how Van Dijk thumped residence a surprising free-kick in a crushing 4-0 win for Celtic eight years in the past.

The Irish worldwide informed SunSport: “It was from 25 yards – an ideal strike. He was a free-kick taking defender.

“He was 22 then and excellent. He was the identical measurement as he’s at this time – large, robust and good on the ball. You might see he was going to be superb.

“Virgil was recent to Scottish soccer, very younger and definitely received’t keep in mind me as he’s gone on to greater and higher issues.

“If we come up in opposition to one another, I’ll attempt my finest to cease him from doing what he does.

“However I’m sure the Virgil Van Dijk we go up in opposition to might be a far completely different animal to the already good one I got here up in opposition to again then.”

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Collins has by no means trod the Anfield turf in a first-team match however did play there twice for Aston Villa’s reserve aspect.

However the striker is aware of at this time might be in a special stratosphere by way of the environment, the standard of opposition and what’s at stake.

And he admits scoring on the iconic stadium or Cardiff inflicting a colossal shock would go down as one of many biggest achievements of his profession.

He admitted: “I generally daydream about scoring and undergo previous targets I’ve put away – and I feel what an ideal feeling it might be to do that or that.

“If I rating on Sunday, it’ll be an ideal spotlight of my profession – to attain at the most effective stadiums on this planet.

“However for those who supply me Cardiff profitable the sport with me not scoring, I’ll take that as a substitute.

“Nevertheless, from a egocentric viewpoint, the right Sunday for me can be a Cardiff victory with a James Collins winner.”

There have been fears that Liverpool might wrestle with out Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, each on African Nations Cup obligation – however the Reds have remained unbeaten in that spell.

Collins added: “It reveals their strength-in-depth and the way they don’t have any weaknesses.

“You lose Mane and Salah however you could have Diogo Jota and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – and other people like Roberto Firmino have are available in and stuffed the void.

“Even when they play a weakened group, they may nonetheless be high-quality so we should be certain that we’re on it.”

The proper Sunday for me can be a Cardiff victory with a James Collins winner.”

James Collins

It’s the second season in a row that Collins has loved rubbing shoulders with soccer royalty.

He performed for Luton final season as they confronted Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and have been crushed 3-1 after Tammy Abraham scored a hat-trick.

The strike ace stated: “Taking part in in video games like this and the Liverpool one this weekend are the the explanation why we wish to be footballers

“The FA Cup is the perfect home competitors on the market.

“We have been 2-0 down, managed to get again to 2-1 however they simply bought stronger, bringing on high quality gamers like Olivier Giroud and Callum Hudson-Odoi, and so they received comfortably.

“However we gave an excellent account of ourselves.”

Collins has been on a special journey to Van Dijk since they met within the SPL.

The Dutch star went to Southampton earlier than shifting to Liverpool for £75million and profitable the Champions League and Premier League,

Whereas Collins plied his commerce in League Two with the likes of Shrewsbury, Northampton and Crawley.

However becoming a member of Luton modified his profession as he received back-to-back promotions to the Championship and his excellent type noticed Cardiff snap him up in the summertime.

He stated: “It was a tricky name to go away Luton as a result of I had 4 implausible years there.

“They’ll all the time be an enormous membership for me. I went again earlier within the season and bought an ideal applause from the followers.

“I used to be on a free and had the possibility to come back to Cardiff when Mick McCarthy got here in for me. I had labored with him on Eire obligation and all the time keep in mind by no means having a straightforward recreation in opposition to Cardiff and it was an opportunity to go to a different nation in entrance of passionate followers in an ideal stadium.”

It has proved, although, to be an underwhelming season and McCarthy bought sacked in October with the membership third from backside.

However the Bluebirds have discovered slightly type currently underneath supervisor Steve Morrison with back-to-back wins in opposition to Nottingham Forest and Barnsley.

Cardiff bolstered their ranks throughout the January window with 5 mortgage signings and two of them are competing with Collins to play up entrance – Jordan Hugill (from Norwich) and Uche Ikpeazu (from Middlesbrough).

And Collins stated: “You all the time want competitors and we’ve made some good signings.

“It’s shaping as much as be an thrilling second half of the season.”

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