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Virgil van Dijk scores quality goal as Liverpool & Man Utd flops punish awful Portugal

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Watch: Van Dijk scores quality goal as Liverpool & Man Utd flops punish awful Portugal — Van Dijk was among the first half scorers (Picture: REUTERS)

Virgil van Dijk scored a fine goal to punish a lacklustre Portugal, leaving Fernando Santos side 3-0 down to the Netherlands at half-time.

The Liverpool defender was part of a trio of familiar scorers, with Manchester United and Liverpool flops Memphis Depay and Ryan Babel also scoring against the European champions.

Depay, who is enjoying a fine season with Lyon, put the Dutch in the lead with a stretched finish.

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Holland take the lead against Portugal. Against the run of play really as Memphis Depay strikes from inside the box. The Dutch employing a really weird 5-3-2. Good to see the like of Rolando and Manuel Fernandes back in the Portuguese set-up too. pic.twitter.com/fkxbIAzYDt

— Deepan (@dfordeeps) March 26, 2018

Babel then thumped a header into the back of the net to pile misery onto Santos side, which left Cristiano Ronaldo berating his team-mates for their shoddy defending.

– Ryan Babels lovely header to make it 2-0. pic.twitter.com/fhPNqpznyz

— Besiktas Talk (@BesiktasTalk) March 26, 2018

And on the stroke of half-time Van Dijk slammed home a third for the Dutch, who enjoyed a remarkable half.

En dat is 3-0 voor het Nederlands Elftal tegen Portugal. Doelpuntenmaker Virgil van Dijk. #PorNed #Koeman pic.twitter.com/wsP5jWkzQa

— Frank Koken (@FrankKoken) March 26, 2018

Ronald Koemans team were beaten by England on Friday night after Jesse Lingards sole strike but they wont be involved in Russia this summer.

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Portugal, who have qualified for the World Cup after winning Euro 2016 will certainly be asking serious questions after what was an appalling first half of football.