A key player in Liverpool's
4-0 comeback over Barcelona was Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
Andrew Robertson was
replaced by Wijnaldum at
half time after the full-back picked up an ankle injury and the former Newcastle United player
had made an impact within minutes.
He scored in the 54th and 56th minutes of the
game to take Liverpool level
with Barcelona on
aggregate.
The hero of the night, alongside striker Divock Origi,
is a cousin of former Real Madrid player Royston Drenthe.
Both players passed through the youth teams of Dutch club Feyenoord and football runs in the
family as his brother Giliano Wijnaldum plays
for Sparta Rotterdam and
his half-brother is Rajiv van La Parra,
a winger at Middlesbrough.
Having made his debut for Feyenoord in 2007, he went on to score
14 times in the 2010/11 season.
In the 2015/16 season he went to Newcastle and got relegated with the
club but Liverpool then
took a chance on the player and he repaid them in Tuesday night's win with a
fine display similar to Istanbul in 2005.
Interestingly, Steven
Gerrard and Vladimir Smicir scored
in the same minutes as Wijnaldum when
Liverpool came from behind to beat AC
Milan in Istanbul in 2005.
Liverpool, then managed by Spaniard Rafa
Benitez, went on to win the match on penalties with Gerrard lifting the trophy in a
historic comeback.
This season has seen Wijnaldum play 34 Premier League games
and 10 Champions League games.
In those 10 Champions League games, the only
time he didn't feature from the start was against Barcelona on Tuesday but the outcome
ended in spectacular fashion.
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