Jurgen Klopp has shared his thoughts on the situation which saw Virgil van Dijk trudge off injured in Liverpool’s draw with Everton, after a challenge from Jordan Pickford.
The England international lunged into the Dutchman, causing him to sit on the turf for a while before having to leave the field due to the pain.
After the game, Klopp said: ‘It’s not good. Virgil plays with pain but he couldn’t play on. Not good. It is not a challenge the keeper can do.’
The former Celtic defender’s absence proved costly for the Premier League champions, as the Reds shipped two goals in his absence and only left Goodison Park with a point.
Goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were not enough to cancel out strikes from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Liverpool thought they’d snatched all three points right at the death, only for VAR to deem Mane as offside in the build-up despite the Senegal international looking at least level, if not onside.
The result leaves Liverpool in second at the time of writing, three points behind their Merseyside rivals after five games played.
It remains to be seen how bad Van Dijk’s injury actually is, but as Klopp mentions, the Netherlands international isn’t one to leave the field for nothing.
For Liverpool’s sake, we can only hope that their colossal No.4 hasn’t had too much damage done to him by Pickford’s clumsy lunge.
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