Virgil van Dijk has removed his name from the list of unfortunate Dutch footballers who have never participated in any major International tournaments.
The Liverpool centre back is the fifth most capped footballer in Holland however he has never played at a European Championship or World Cup.
On November 16, the Liverpool defender won his 44th cap as Holland defeated Norway 2-0 in Rotterdam thus guaranteeing them qualification for Qatar World Cup 2022.
The 30-year-old defender was spotted looking up at the sky with his arms spread wide as he celebrated the result at full-time in an emotional display of relief.
In 2014 Van Dijk was left out of Holland’s squad by Louis van Gaal despite an impressive season with the Scottish champions Celtic.
The following year he made his Dutch debut in Kazakhstan, but Holland failed to qualify for Euro 2016 as they finished fourth behind Czech Republic, Iceland and Turkey.
Another disappointing result happened two years later two years later as the Netherlands missed out on the World Cup in Russia when they finished third behind France and Sweden in qualifying.
Van Dijk was faced with another huddle as he missed out on the rearranged Euro 2020 tournament earlier this year due to a serious knee injury sustained in last season’s Merseyside derby that ruled him out.
Jan Klaasens, Roel Wiersman, Eddy Pieters Graafland and Cor van der Hart are the only other players to have represented Holland more times than Van Dijk without reaching a major finals.
Netherlands qualification for Qatar 2022 brought to an end their eight-year World Cup absence.