VAN DIJK AGONY
Crushing blow for Liverpool title hopes as horror injury rules talisman out for season
LIVERPOOL’S worst fears were realised yesterday when it was confirmed Virgil van Dijk has suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage.
The champions are not ruling out a return for the Holland defender before the end of the season, but it is unlikely he will play again this term.
Van Dijk sustained the injury in a shocking challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby, which finished 2-2 on Saturday.
The grade three tear — which was revealed by a scan on Saturday night — will require surgery but Liverpool have not decided yet when the operation will be performed. For that reason, they cannot put a timeframe on Van Dijk’s recovery programme.
Clearly, though, Liverpool will be poorer for the loss of Van Dijk, whose performances since joining in January 2018 were key to them winning the 2018-19 Champions League and last season’s Premier League title.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is yet to speak about the blow of losing the 2019 PFA Player of the Year, but he will do so tomorrow night at his press conference to preview his
side’s opening Champions League match of the season against Ajax in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Pickford is understood to have attempted to make contact with Van Dijk, but last night he had still not spoken to him directly.
The goalkeeper, who may be charged retrospectively by the FA over his horrific tackle, did speak to Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson at Goodison Park immediately after the game to apologise.
Referee Michael Oliver did not have a clear view of the incident and David Coote — the VAR official for the game — chose not to recommend that Oliver go to the pitchside monitor for a second look at it.
Liverpool were so incensed by
Coote’s performance that they have demanded a full explanation about his decisions on Pickford.
They would also like to know why Sadio Mane was judged offside in the build-up to what would have been a stoppage-time winner for Henderson until VAR intervened.
Speaking on Sky Sports yesterday, Liverpool legend Graeme Souness did not hold back on what he thought about the Pickford incident.
The Scot said: ‘It’s outrageous. I’ve been to Stockley Park — it’s nigh on impossible to make a mistake. And they still get it wrong. That was an assault. Not a tackle — an assault.’