Aleksandar Mitrovic absolutely bodied Jordan Henderson before rinsing Virgil van Dijk

Aleksandar Mitrovic sent Jordan Henderson to the shadow realm and rinsed Virgil van Dijk in a stunning sequence from his Man of the Match performance against Liverpool.

The Serbian striker led the line superbly in the 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, bagging a brace upon his return to the Premier League.

He bullied Trent Alexander-Arnold in the air to score a far post header that opened the scoring, before he won and converted a penalty in the second.

And one passage of play in particular summed up his outing. A loose ball dropped on the edge of the box and Mitrovic, as he did all game, was first onto it.

Liverpool skipper Henderson challenged him but got thrown to the floor after feeling Mitrovic's freakish strength.

Just look at Van Dijk 😭😭
Mitrovic but Why 😭 pic.twitter.com/Ytqyok4t4O

— kemboi (@Cfc_Kemboi) August 6, 2022

Mitrovic cooking Henderson and VVD 😭 pic.twitter.com/ISPPbsnlZ5

— SP 🇸🇱 (@septimusajprime) August 6, 2022

Henderson violated and Van Disney getting spun 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/FhmcVu6kEg

— 👨🏽‍💻 (@supremiIe) August 6, 2022

He was then faced by Van Dijk, widely deemed to be the best one-vs-one defender in world football and a player who had never dribbled past until today.

For the first time since joining Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk has been dribbled past by an opponent AND conceded a penalty in a single Premier League game.

Aleksandar Mitrović is responsible for both. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HGt6pOy56f

— Squawka (@Squawka) August 6, 2022

But the former Newcastle forward had the Dutchman dancing with his quick feet and then produced a gorgeous Cruyff turn before feeding Andreas Pereira down on the left flank.

Mitrovic was almost unplayable on Saturday lunchtime and had Van Dijk scrambling later in the game - forcing the former Southampton man into giving away a penalty.

Nah man what’s van Disney doing 😭 pic.twitter.com/trjEHzNrRH

— Lunihan (@Lunihannn) August 6, 2022

He skilfully twisted and turned inside the area, leading to a clumsy challenge that brought the penalty Mitrovic converted to put his side 2-1 up.

Mo Salah continued his record of scoring on every open day weekend in the Premier League by notching Liverpool's second equaliser with ten minutes to go.

But the game belonged to Mitrovic, who will be looking to finally do the business in the top flight after hitting a staggering 43 goals in Fulham's promotion from the Championship last term.

He scored just three goals in his last season in the Premier League in the 2020/21 campaign.