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Virgil van Dijk’s hamstring injury turned out to be more serious than initially thought, necessitating a period of rest.
The 31-year-old Dutch defender was taken off during the first half of Monday’s brutal 3-1 loss for Liverpool at Brentford. After the game, manager Jurgen Klopp admitted that he didn’t think the situation was “serious” and that Van Dijk wanted to stay.
Being substituted at halftime in Liverpool’s bruising the loss to Brentford, Virgil van Dijk is now expected to miss a significant portion of the season for the Reds.
The Times reports that his hamstring is in worse shape than what initial examinations on Monday suggested, thus the Reds will now be without their star center-back for much longer than 45 minutes.
Van Dijk has been a constant in Klopp’s defense since the start of the Premier League season; his potential absence from games in three tournaments would be a devastating blow to Liverpool’s campaign.
In the third round of the FA Cup, the Reds host Wolves at Anfield on Saturday. On January 14, they depart for Brighton. The next match is against Chelsea, followed by another league match against Wolves, but this time away from home.
Then there’s the Merseyside derby against Everton, who are currently in relegation trouble. After that, they face a challenging test away at probable title contenders Newcastle before welcoming Real Madrid for their tantalizing Champions League Round-of-16 first leg on February 21.
Van Dijk will be subjected to examinations to ascertain the extent of the injury; his most recent extended absence was during the 2020–21 season when he tore his ACL and needed nine agonizing months to recover.
In contrast to the lack of available alternatives back then, Klopp has Ibrahima Konate, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, and Nat Phillips to choose from to step in for the 31-year-old.
After the Reds’ defeat to Brentford, the manager didn’t appear overly concerned about Van Dijk’s condition, saying: “Virgil, who is an excellent judge of these types of things, felt the muscle a little bit and declared it to be in good condition.
I didn’t want to take any chances, though. When I mentioned that we don’t take risks, the physios appeared rather pleased. He only noticed the intensity; it wasn’t an injury.
In the second half, with Liverpool already down 2-0, Matip joined Konate in place of the Netherlands international.
