Virgil van Dijk is a warrior.
The best central defender on the planet has been nursing broken ribs for weeks and throughout our nightmare run of fixtures, was injured almost the entire time.
However, the only game he missed was the EFL Cup defeat to Chelsea, largely because he’s been playing with painkilling injections, as Ronald Koeman told Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.
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Koeman reveals agreement with Liverpool RE Van Dijk
“Virgil has been playing with two broken ribs for weeks and has been constantly injecting to play at Liverpool in recent weeks. He insisted on being present against Germany,” he began.
“That’s great, because you want internationals who want to be here at the expense of everything. The club would have preferred him there. But he said that he wanted to play against Germany. If you get something, you also have to give something back.”
He now has a full week back at Melwood to rest, train and get himself ready for Saturday’s key fixture against Huddersfield.
Mo Salah and Sadio Mane also returned from international duty early, so it’s a very important week in the treatment room and the training field for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds…
After Huddersfield, there’s a few days off before we host Red Star at Anfield. Then we welcome Neil Warnock’s Cardiff to our home ground three days later.
Really, three wins is a must after going four games without one.