Van Dijk’s been playing with broken ribs, says Koeman

HOLLAND manager Ronald Koeman claims Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has carried on playing despite breaking two ribs last month. Van Dijk missed Holland’s 1-1 draw with Belgium last night after scoring in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Germany but Koeman believes he should be fit to play for Liverpool at Huddersfield on Saturday. Koeman said: ‘Virgil has played with two broken ribs in the last weeks. He wanted to play against Germany but he’s back in Liverpool and is ready to play at the weekend.’ Van Dijk has played five games since Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he had suffered bruised ribs before facing Paris Saint-Germain in mid-September. The international break has not been kind to Liverpool as Naby Keita injured his thigh playing for Guinea yesterday and Sadio Mane suffered a suspected broken thumb for Senegal. Mohamed Salah also sustained a muscle injury for Egypt at the weekend but should play at Huddersfield. It may have been a friendly but Brazil celebrated Miranda’s late winner in a 1-0 victory over Argentina as if it was the World Cup final. There are no ‘friendlies’ with Argentina. Miranda headed in Neymar’s corner in the third minute of added time to beat an Argentina side missing Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero in Saudi Arabia. DANISH coach Thomas Frank, the former Brondby boss, has stepped up from assistant manager to take charge of Brentford following Dean Smith’s departure to Aston Villa.