Football news - Tactics sheet shows using centre-back Virgil Van Dijk as a striker was no fluke

When Virgil van Dijk netted a stunning goal for the Netherlands against Germany in the dying moments - a strike that sent his country through to the Nations League semi-finals - many onlookers may have thought it was a fluke.

What was the Liverpool centre-back doing that far up the pitch in the first place?

How lucky he was to be in the right place at the right time!

But now it has emerged that using the Netherlands captain was pre-conceived idea ahead of the match.

That's because a tactics sheet has emerged with Van Dijk leading the line with PSV Eindhoven forward Luuk de Jong in a 3-2-3-2 formation.

"I received the letter from (assistant coach) Dwight Lodeweges,' Koeman said after the game. "But I did not know what was written on it.

'It's great that Virgil scores that late equaliser of course - how often did Germany score in the last minute in recent years? Now it appears the Netherlands can do it too.'

Koeman insisted that he waited until the final minutes to use the tactic as he didn't want to concede more goals at 2-0 down. "Of course, with Dwight and Kees van Wonderen we went through different scenarios prior to the game, and also that we had to force something in the final phase.

"But when it came up at 2-0 I said no, we are not going to do that now. Then it becomes 4-0 or 5-0. But I wanted to do it at 2-1."