Mighty Mike recalls his spectacular 2017 World Championship semi-final against fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld
Wednesday 18 September 2019 12:10, UK
In the fourth of our series, Michael van Gerwen picks his 2017 World Championship semi-final clash against Raymond van Barneveld as his greatest game.
Van Gerwen went into the tournament ranked as the No 1 in the world having already claimed the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Premier League titles that year.
He had beaten Kim Viljanen, Cristo Reyes, Darren Webster and Daryl Gurney to set up a mouth-watering clash with his fellow countryman in the last four.
The pair traded blows in a stunning opening five sets before Van Gerwen opened up a two-set lead to make it 4-2.
"I felt really good as it was probably the best tournament I have played in my life," said Van Gerwen. "It was really important for me to play well against Raymond and I had to otherwise I would have lost that game."
After going 4-2 up MVG did not look back, producing one of the best performances the Ally Pally has ever witnessed, averaging a tournament record 114.05 and narrowly missing double 12, en route to a comprehensive 6-2 victory.
"It was nice to beat Raymond, I still hadn't won anything after that, but it gave me confidence for the tournament, and I played well afterwards too."
Van Gerwen would take that form into the final and end Gary Anderson's reign as world champion, defeating The Flying Scotsman 7-3 to claim his second world title.
It's not long to wait until darts is back on Sky Sports, the World Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday, October 6 at Dublin's Citywest Arena and seven days of coverage continues until the final on Saturday, October 12.
