Of course I had doubts if I’d come back as good. But I feel like people have taken me for granted
LIVERPOOL TALISMAN VIRGIL VAN DIJK ON HIS BATTLE BACK FROM INJURY
VIRGIL VAN DIJK, fresh from imperious performances against Inter Milan and Norwich City, sits in a room at the sleek new Liverpool training ground in Kirkby and listens to the question. It is a little simplistic but he listens anyway. ‘Are you back to your best?’ He laughs gently at it and even though he is not the type of man to nurse anger, there is a tinge of resentment in that laugh. ‘How would you determine “my best”?’ he responds. So I mention the 39th minute of the game at San Siro 10 days ago. The Champions League tie between Inter and Liverpool is goalless when the ball breaks to Lautaro Martinez, one of the best strikers in the world, the spearhead of the Italian champions, near the halfway line, and there is just Van Dijk between him and Alisson.
And Van Dijk looks impossibly cool and relaxed. There is no hint of panic. Nothing other than supreme confidence that he can deal with this and that this man will not beat him. Van Dijk dances gently on the spot, perfectly balanced, ready to go right or left, stands off him and shepherds Martinez to his left. And the danger fades to nothing.
A couple of minutes later, a ball is played in from the Inter left and into the path of Edin Dzeko. Dzeko runs on to it and his first touch takes him towards goal. Then Van Dijk appears. He does not even touch the ball. He blocks Dzeko off and the ball runs harmlessly into the hands of Alisson. Dzeko throws up his arms in frustration. Van Dijk continues to dominate.
It has been 17 months since Liverpool’s colossus ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament after a challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. The day after we speak, Van Dijk would anchor Liverpool to a 6-0 defeat of Leeds United at Anfield that takes the Reds to within three points of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League and gild another commanding performance with an added-time headed goal.
He nods at the analysis of where his game stands but what has irked him is that, until now, he has been given little credit for the way he has recovered from a career-threatening injury which left him needing to learn how to walk again, let alone play again, and which forced him to confront the doubts that assail every player who suffers the kind of injury that makes them wonder if they will ever be the same player.
Van Dijk, 30, whose Liverpool team play Chelsea today in the Carabao Cup final, is a man who exudes quiet confidence and selfassurance but he noticed that any mistake he made since he returned at the start of this season was seized upon eagerly by some television analysts and other observers as evidence he would never get back to being the defender he had been before his injury.
When Antoine Griezmann got the better of him to score for Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in a Champions League group game last October, it was the same. Van Dijk was too casual, some fans said.
A Spanish newspaper gave him a zero rating for his display that night. Some shook their heads and said he would never get back to his best. A few days later, he was subjected to more criticism for a display against Brighton.
It was as if observers wanted to pretend Van Dijk’s knee injury had never happened. It was as if they expected him to return to his best immediately, even though he had missed more than 300 days in rehabilitation. It was as if nobody considered the pain and the doubts that afflict a player.
Pep Lijnders, Liverpool’s assistant boss, talked about those doubts when he contributed to an in-house feature on Van Dijk’s recovery that was aired near the start of the season. Lijnders talked about ‘the voice in your head that says it’s all gone, the voice that says other players will catch you’.
Van Dijk heard that voice, too. He is open about that. He says it is normal. He says that the voice has gone away.
‘It was always going to take time from the pre-season until now,’ he says. ‘I feel very good. I think the winter break really helped me, to get away with my family, to get some time to really switch off, not to think about football and the pressure we are all under.
‘I felt a little bit taken for granted at times, like people were acting as if nothing had happened and everything was normal. I had to really switch off and get myself clear in my head.
‘It isn’t really normal, after the injury I had, to be able to play that amount of games and to the level I had already reached, in my opinion. So there were a lot of things going through my head before the break. I went on a nice beach holiday far away with my family and my kids and it was really needed. ‘The games before the break, even if I had a good game, I felt like no one appreciated it as much as they should. Not that I’m insecure and need to have confirmation all the time, not at all, but I felt like coming back from an ACL/ MCL (anterior or medial cruciate ligament) injury
Yes, I can still improve... but I don’t think that I have to prove anything
and playing the amount of games I have played so far, playing three games a week, it is quite good and should not be overlooked. And it was overlooked in my opinion.’
The statistics bear out Van Dijk’s instincts. After the injury he suffered, the manner of his return for Liverpool this season has been remarkable. He has started more games and played more minutes for the club than any other outfield player. The only Premier League games he missed came when he contracted Covid-19 in December.
He has led the team in other ways, too, as he has helped them back into the thick of a title race with City. In passes made this season, he ranks No1 at Liverpool. In aerial battles won this season, he ranks No1. In clearances made, he ranks No 1.
‘I saw some of the comments about the Griezmann goal,’ says Van Dijk, ‘and I know I could have done better. In any game, there are moments where you could have done better. The injury was not the issue. I am my hardest critic and I will always know when I do things well and I don’t do things well.
‘There are doubts in your head about whether you will come back the same. That’s normal. You overthink everything. You are full of pain. You can’t do anything.
‘I am a guy who is always asking questions. From the moment when I went into pre-season with the boys in Austria, I just felt like I needed to climb the ladder again physically and mentally to be able to get where I want to be.’
Van Dijk’s injury was the most decisive factor in the collapse of Liverpool’s title defence last season. His prolonged absence, combined with a freak series of injuries to other central defenders, destroyed Liverpool’s attempts to compete with Manchester City but this season, with Van Dijk and Joel Matip restored to the team and Ibrahima Konate recruited from RB Leipzig, they are challenging on four fronts.
City’s defeat by Spurs last weekend and Liverpool’s demolition of Leeds brought Van Dijk and his teammates to within touching distance of City. After so long out with injury, Van Dijk, who will captain Holland at the World Cup later this year, is relishing the rush of challenges that are flying towards him.
‘I have nothing to prove,’ he says. ‘That’s not because I feel I am the best version of myself. It’s more that I know I can get better. I can still improve on so many things but I don’t think I have to prove anything.
‘I just want to go out there, play the best football I can with this beautiful club I am playing for on the highest level and I want to give it my all, try and win trophies and get success, with Liverpool and the national team.
‘I come from a little boy who had a dream to become a professional football player. I have made it and that’s what I am happy with. I am grateful. I am blessed.’