The upcoming World Cup is set to be missing a number of world-class talents, including now the likes of Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane.
Virgil van Dijk shared that he called his old Liverpool teammate the morning after hearing of the news to express his sympathies, as reported in a tweet by the Mirror.
Virgil van Dijk on his ex-#LFC teammate Sadio Mane: "I called him. I feel sad for him, I know how hard he works for this, and he has been so important for Senegal. He's obviously a big miss for them, but hopefully we can benefit from that a little." https://t.co/IK33U4MqZJ
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) November 20, 2022
Given how many injuries tend to occur at this time of the year – and that’s without considering the swathe of human rights concerns associated with the venue – it begs the question as to how the tournament was allowed to take place in Doha.
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Despite the issues, surely obvious to all by now, the competition remains set to go ahead.
There are some benefits for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, however, with the German taking the opportunity to whisk his squad away to a training camp in Dubai, closely located to the World Cup so any players making an early exit can link up with the rest of the squad ahead of the next stage of the domestic season.
The tournament really shouldn’t be happening but, at the very least, it looks like it will be of some benefit to our preparations.
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